Frosty At The Ice Rink
If you discount the dubious thrill of waiting to see if the lifeboat will be called out in a Force 10 gale, there are very few attractions to be had here in winter – which can be nice. Seaside resorts in the off season have a soulful, abandoned look, rather like my (our) semiderelict house. Dark grey skies are a good backdrop for a home with broken windows, but, like empty streets, they have limited appeal.
The council, with a commitment to business-rate payers, constantly needs to come up with new visitor gimmicks and this year it is the chance to spend the festivities with a broken leg.
Billed as the centrepiece of the town’s seasonal celebrations, it has constructed an open-air ‘real ice’ rink at Priory Meadow Shopping Centre. ‘Skate by the sea’, flirts the publicity – a feat that would only be possible if they flattened M&S to clear the view. In the lead-up to this week’s launch, residents were kept on tenterhooks as to who would be given the great honour of declaring this 20m by 30m frozen rectangle officially open.
When news broke that it was to be Chesney Hawkes, feelings were so heated the ‘real ice’ almost melted. Despite having maintained the No1 slot for five weeks with a song claiming he was ‘The One And Only’, the locals believed there were others. Significant others.
‘Why couldn’t we have Mick Jagger?’ a woman called Wendy was quoted as asking several national newspapers. ‘Or Cliff?’ Besides the obvious ones, the answer, it seemed, lay with Roger Crouch, the event organiser, who had known Chesney and his family for more than 30 years and felt the obscure ex-pop star was just the thing. ‘This is great for Hastings,’ he said, displaying all the lack of grass-roots understanding peculiar to local politicians.
As it was, Hawkes had to take to Twitter to see off the Go Away Chesney campaigners. But he could have gone home and asked his dad for help. Len ‘Chip’ Hawkes is better known as a member of The Tremeloes, a band still touring and with some memorable numbers in its repertoire.
Clearly, Do You Love Me? might have backfired on the young Hawkes. But a rousing chorus of Twist And Shout would at least describe the parlous state most of the skaters will eventually find themselves in.
Next week: Renovations and resolutions…
The council, with a commitment to business-rate payers, constantly needs to come up with new visitor gimmicks and this year it is the chance to spend the festivities with a broken leg.
Billed as the centrepiece of the town’s seasonal celebrations, it has constructed an open-air ‘real ice’ rink at Priory Meadow Shopping Centre. ‘Skate by the sea’, flirts the publicity – a feat that would only be possible if they flattened M&S to clear the view. In the lead-up to this week’s launch, residents were kept on tenterhooks as to who would be given the great honour of declaring this 20m by 30m frozen rectangle officially open.
When news broke that it was to be Chesney Hawkes, feelings were so heated the ‘real ice’ almost melted. Despite having maintained the No1 slot for five weeks with a song claiming he was ‘The One And Only’, the locals believed there were others. Significant others.
‘Why couldn’t we have Mick Jagger?’ a woman called Wendy was quoted as asking several national newspapers. ‘Or Cliff?’ Besides the obvious ones, the answer, it seemed, lay with Roger Crouch, the event organiser, who had known Chesney and his family for more than 30 years and felt the obscure ex-pop star was just the thing. ‘This is great for Hastings,’ he said, displaying all the lack of grass-roots understanding peculiar to local politicians.
As it was, Hawkes had to take to Twitter to see off the Go Away Chesney campaigners. But he could have gone home and asked his dad for help. Len ‘Chip’ Hawkes is better known as a member of The Tremeloes, a band still touring and with some memorable numbers in its repertoire.
Clearly, Do You Love Me? might have backfired on the young Hawkes. But a rousing chorus of Twist And Shout would at least describe the parlous state most of the skaters will eventually find themselves in.
Next week: Renovations and resolutions…