The Christmas ice gala on 8 to 9 December has a novel twist this year, with British championship skaters performing to live music from Opera Anywhere.

British junior ladies solo ice dance champion Charlotte Aiken and her brother Henry, the novice men’s solo ice dance champion, are among skaters performing to the opera music. Charlotte and Henry both began skating on the IW and now train at Guildford.

IW skater Kirsten Ginger makes a welcome return to the annual show for the Arias on Ice segment, as does British championship skater Matt Kershaw.

Double national bronze medallists, the Wight Diamonds synchronized skating team, will also be performing at the show. The Diamonds picked up bronze medals at this year’s British and the Scottish championships, at intermediate and elementary levels respectively.

Show times on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 December are 3pm and 6.30pm. Two special schools performances take place on Friday 7 December, one of which is already sold out. Opera takes place only on the Saturday and Sunday performances; the school shows will instead have extra artistic performances by IW club skaters. Tickets are £8.00 each for adults, £5.50 each for children, and £20.00 for a family of four. To book, call Planet Ice Ryde on 01983 615155.

Planet Ice has a strict no photography policy at the rink, except by previously approved photographers. Malcolm Mennie and Ian Marsh are approved video photographers for the show, and this year the show DVD will be produced by Malcolm, not Ian. Chris Wilmott and Mavis are the approved stills photographers for the show. Details of how to obtain the DVD or stills will be available later.

Show picture kindly provided by Mavis.