Skating@Life is declared 'open' during a royal visit by Queen Rita from Newcastle Theatre Royal’s production of 'Sleeping Beauty - the Pantomime of Your Dreams!'

The real ice rink opens to the public on Saturday morning 11am for its 10th consecutive year…and will welcome a predicted 80,000 visitors during its short season (until mid Feb). The rink is now an integral part of the Newcastle Gateshead Initiative Winter Festival and is unusual for a temporary rink in that it is real ice, 50 metric tonnes of real ice, and has taken 1,000 man hours to build!

The 'opening ceremony' begins with characters Wallace & Gromit, currently in residence at Life for an extended period (until 30th January) in 'Wallace and Gromit Present…A World of Cracking Ideas'….on the ice on sledges and wearing especially created winter woolly hats and scarves created by Guinness World Record Holder for Big Knitting, Ingrid Wagner, based at Kirkharle.

Skating@Life's professional coach* Dancing On Ice star Susie Lipanova will then welcome Chris Hayward , the North East's most famous pantomime dame in his role
of The Queen (Rita) onto the rink and the rink is declared open.

Chris appears as Queen Rita in the latest Theatre Royal pantomime which is widely regarded as one of the biggest and best Christmas shows in the country and runs from Tuesday 29th November ’11 until Saturday 21 January ’12. The cast also includes 'legends' Danny Adams and Clive Webb playing Muddles and The
King, respectively. This is of course the first panto to be shown in the new multi million pound restored auditorium. www.theatreroyal.co.uk

Chris is unique amongst other performers as he designs and creates all his own costumes and is commissioned by many other top panto performers to make theirs
too! This is Chris' 26th appearance as a Dame and this latest appearance , as Queen Rita , in his home town of Newcastle, marks something of milestone in
his incredibly successful career.