The Express, N ov e m b e r 4, 2016 3

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TEARS were shed andfriends were reunitedwhen one last skatesession was held atSlough’s Absolutely Icearena ahead of a multi-million pound refur-bishment.

More than 300 peoplecame to the MontemLane centre for the FinalSkatedown on Friday,October 28, organised byduty manager JulieMiles, to say farewell tothe rink they knew andl ove d .

The next day thecentre closed for a £7.7mrefurbishment whichcould last 12 months.

On the night, skatersplayed ice-based gamesand circled the rink to asoundtrack of musicfrom ranging from 1986,

the year that the rinkwas opened, to thepresent day.

Members from all ofthe ice rink’s skatingclubs, including theSlough SynchronisedSkating Club and Spe-cial People on Ice(SPICE), attended, as

well as users and stafffrom decades gone by.

Julie said: “It justshows what it meant toso many people from dif-ferent walks of life.

“I would go fromgroup to group and theywere talking about theirstories and memories.”

On Friday nights, therink organised couples’skating, where lovebirdscircled the rink holdinghands, including Kateand Jason Forster, whomet at the rink.

The married coupletook to the ice for onelast couples’ session as

part of Friday’s event.About 15 marriages

have resulted frompeople meeting for thefirst time at the ice rink,said Julie. On Fridaynight, skaters also at-tempted – and failed – tobreak the record set byJim Howard of 10.70seconds for the fastestlap of the rink.

In a competition aweek before the FinalSkatedown, Jim shaved0.01 second off his own10-year record.

Describing the sceneat the end of the night,Julie said: “There werelots of tears.

“We extended the ses-sion because no onewanted to go.

“Although everyonewas gutted about theclosure and it being anend of an era, they wereall happy to be backtogether and reunited.

“It was almost likegoing to a funeral.Yo u ’re sad but you seeyour family.

“It was like closure fora lot of people. Theywere able to saygoodbye, to see peoplefrom years ago andrekindle relationships.”

S LO U G H : A chance to learnmore about opportunitiesfor women in the construc-tion industry was given toyear 11 girls from acrossthe town on Wednesday.

Slough Urban Renewalteamed up with Learningto Work for the ‘Women inC o n s t r u c t i o n’ event at TheCurve in WellingtonStreet.

More than 40 studentstook part in workshopsand met women alreadyforging successful careersin the construction in-dustr y.

Youngsters were also ad-vised on the skills neededto succeed.

Operations manager forLearning to Work, NancyLalor said: “I think theywere really surprised bythe breadth of opportun-ities available.”

Thinking of building a future in construction

S k at e r s ’ emotionalfarewell to ice rinkBy James Hockadayj a m e s h k @ b a y l i s m e d i a . co . u k@JamesHockadayBM

EMOTIONAL GOODBYE: Skaters gather for a group photo at the farewell sessionto the old ice arena.

Ice-lovers put on their skating boots for a final session at theAbsolutely Ice arena in Montem Lane on Friday, October 28. The rink closed for

a 12-month refurbishment on Saturday.

SPEED READ:

LEANING: Rana Galgal and Megan Rhatigan, both 15,test their construction skills. Ref:15126946-17

Slough Central: Hundreds at final gathering before £7.7m refurbishment

More roadworks for bus lane widening

‘Ugly rotting truck’ crushed

Bridge closing for repairs

SLOUGH: The second phaseof a year-long project to de-liver a rapid bus servicefrom Slough Trading Es-tate to Langley gets underway next week.

The £8m SMaRT (SloughMass Rapid Transit)scheme will see sections of

the A4 widened to makeway for new bus lanes.

Work on the easternstretch of the A4 nearLangley has been on-goingsince May and is due to befinished by January.

Major work on thewestern stretch between

Slough Trading Estate andthe town centre will notbegin until the new year,but preliminary works aretaking place variously, be-fore Christmas, outside theO2, between Galvin Roadand Pitts Road, and outside230-224 Bath Road.

THINKING AHEAD: Cherish Chentheeswaran, 15. Ref:126946-14

S LO U G H : An ‘ugly, rotting’recovery truck carrying a beat-up Ford Capri has been seizedand destroyed by Slough Bor-ough Council.

Tahir Kaan, of Martin Road,Slough, the truck’s owner, hadbeen served a community pro-tection notice for continuallyleaving the truck on publicroads in a dangerous and unse-cure condition. Often left onUpton Road, it had beenspotted at various locationsacross the town over the last 18months and also attracted anti-social behaviour.

Kaan did not comply withthe order requesting him tomove the vehicle so ReadingMagistra tes’ Court granted the

borough permission to seize itand anything attached to it.

The truck and the Capri havesince been crushed.

Kaan was also fined £2,500and ordered to pay £1,412.12c o s t s.

Cllr Paul Sohal, commis-sioner for regulation and con-sumer protection, said: “Fo rmonths the residents of UptonRoad have had to put up withthis ugly rotting heap sittingoutside their houses, blockingthe entrance to the park andattracting all sorts of poorb e h av i o u r.

“The actions of the ownerwere making people’s lives amisery and he quite obviouslyd i d n’t care.”

GONE: This recovery truck,complete with battered FordCapri, has now been crushed.

S LO U G H : Part-time closures arein place for a bridge inBurnham Lane to allow foremergency drainage repairs.

The closure is stoppingtraffic from travelling underthe bridge linking BurnhamLane and Buckingham Avenuebetween 9.30am and 3.30pmeach day.

Pedestrians will be able tocross under the bridge from to-

morrow (Saturday) and it is ex-pected to be fully reopened totraffic on Monday.

Motorists are still able todrive northbound alongBurnham Lane South, from theA4 Bath Road, to get to theirh o u s e s.

The council is advisingpeople to use alternativeroutes, including Dover Road,while the closure is in place.

‘It wasalmost likegoing toa funeral’

MAKING PLANS: From left, Yumna Salman, 16,Zuzanna Gorska, 15, and Angela Purse from MorganSindall. Ref:126946-6

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