This Saturday evening at 6.30pm we will be holding a gathering outside Streatham Ice Rink to give the old lady the last rights in her 80th year rather than celebrate her birthday we will be highlighting the ghastly fact that she will be demolished in September. Join us to commiserate together this untimely loss, we fear she will not return to Streatham.
Contrary to Lambeth's and Tesco's assertions that she is about to fall to pieces, we know she could last another 20 years, however these bullies have presented false information about Streatham Ice Arena and the temporary rink in Brixton to justify it is equivalent, we all know it isn't but they have mugged us and this grand old historic Ice Rink will soon be gone forever.
What is worse Tesco's have played the long game, they never intended to do the original project, they always planned to vary the Section 106 and there will be nothing to stop them doing it again in the near future, whether we will ever see a replacement ice rink in Streatham is very debatable. Should Brixton fail in the three years it is due to be in Brixton, with all our clubs and teams gone,what is to stop Tesco's changing everything yet again. The section 106 is not worth the paper it is written on.
Please join us, bring your candles, crosses, wreaths, let everyone know how much we will miss our cherished Ice Rink just to make more profit quicker for Tesco's, come and show how much we disagree not just with Lambeth's approval but the Communities and Local Governments Eric Pickles failure to realise this rink is a Regional centre of excellence and cannot be dumped in Brixton and meet our needs, the mistakes these officers have made are unforgivable, currently they could renege on extending the opening hours from 7am till 11pm to 5am till 2am as promised, and no agreement has been set for the new management company (Planet Ice) to honour the current sessions for all our clubs and teams, some sold us out to get privilege and contributions to their teams or clubs costs, the distortion of information will only become fully apparent when this new temporary rink is opened in Brixton, when we will see just how cramped and unfit for purpose it will be, too late to change anything then.
Look forward to meeting all of you Tomorrow night, bring placards, slogans, banners and wear your team shirts, I will circulate pictures to all newspapers on Sunday, hopefully we should get decent coverage as a fitting tribute from the Millions of users that have skated there and remember the rink with fond memories. let's thank this lady for all the good times we have all enjoyed, the friends we have made, the girlfriends and boyfriends that became our partners, and the whole voluntary efforts by all the trainers and coaches that have encouraged us and helped us perfect our skating and the exhileration we have enjoyed for some of us for so many years, for me personally 58 wonderful years as a child, father and more recently grandfather..
Trevor Hutton (Save Skating In Streatham)
All are invited: Facebook Event: Goodbye Streatham Ice Rink
Further information about the campaign to save the rink can be found here: Save Streatham Skating Campaign
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