(History File)

A Time of Gifts

Winter at Eden 2004

From the Sub Tropical to Sub Zero

Taken from a poster next to the ice rink site near the land train.

News from Cornwall's favourite newspaper, The Cornish Guardian, is that there will be a 10 week celebration at Eden, one of the best loved and most successful Millennium Funded Projects, to celebrate the National Lottery's 10th birthday on the 6th of November.

This promises to be a breathtaking spectacular event, with braziers glowing in the winter darkness and strings of colourful lanterns and flaming torches to light your way.

Eden's central lake is now a magically lit skating rink, reportedly large enough to hold over 300 people at any one time. It will be surrounded by an enchanted  forest and thousands of twinkling lights. The whole scene will be enhanced against the background of the floodlit biomes.

It is expected to be open until 10:00pm in the evenings 3 days a week.

 Weekdays during term time it will be reserved for school groups use.

An artistic impression of the Ice Rink

Follow the construction here  (latest at the top)

The construction firm

06/11/04 Ice rink completed and in use for the Lottery Party celebration.

04/11/04 Ice blue wonder rink.

04/11/04 The final back supports are fitted to the Ice Rink. One of the entrances to the Rink, to find out more about the log cabin contact:   Woodenways.com 

04/11/04 The ice sparkles enticingly, once the lights are on it will be an even more spectacular sight.

04/11/04 The Ice rink blending in with the biomes.

03/11/04 There seems to be helpers everywhere working on the Ice rink.

03/11/04 The Ice is good and solid so volunteers from the staff are asked to test it!

02/11/04 Late afternoon and light begins to fade while work continues to thicken the Ice sheet,

there is some concern, as the mild weather is slowing the freezing process.

01/11/04 A view of Eden with the Ice rink almost built. Illuminations of the cliffs and trees should

make a magical backdrop for the Lottery celebration party on Saturday.

01/11/04 Work continues on the Ice rink, the magical tree forest will arrive shortly.

01/11/04 Wooded seating and Ice rink entrance. Could be the worlds largest Christmas Pudding in

 the making, next to the Ice rink or may be some sort of cooking oven?

01/11/04 A man who's at the top of his job, a sky monkey.

30/10/04 Ice beginning to form over the coolant pipes, as work continues on Eden's Ice rink.

0/10/04 Some of the work at the West end of the Ice rink. Watering the freezing pipes to start

 building up a thick layer of ice.

30/10/04  Construction of the Log Cabin continues.
 Coolant now being pumped through the header pipes and across the matrix of small pipes that

 cover the Ice rink, frozen condensation can be seen.

30/10/04 Log cabin construction is almost complete as the builders reach roof level.

30/10/04 Covered walkways from the Ice rink to the link building.  Waiting for the Ice to freeze.

26/10/04 View of Eden and Ice rink. The Log cabin snack bar which will be part of the Ice rink.

26/10/04 Wood arriving at the South end, all hands on deck, both the red and yellow hats.

26/10/04 Ice rink railings being assembled, in the back ground stacks of  small metal piping that

 will be spread evenly over the decking and linked to the larger header pipes which will carry the coolant.

25/10/04 The front section of the Ice rink roof is fitted.  A virtual forest of tree wood is unloaded, these trees appear to have been previously shaped in preparation for the erection of the log cabin.

25/10/04 On top of Eden's man made mountain. A view from inside the Ice rink.

25/10/04 Fixing the two halves of the cover together.

24/10/04 The centre part of the Ice rink roof cover is now fitted.

24/10/04 It's as big as an aircraft hanger, you can just see the tiny speck of an engineer in the

back ground.  Bolting down and stretching the cover.

24/10/04  Cantilever front arch in it's final position, support cables yet to be fixed.

22/10/04 Rear arch is about to be fixed into place, driving rain and gusty wind don't help!

22/10/04 The engineer requested 'no fame please' but appears to pose for the camera anyway.

22/10/04 The final connection of the rear arch.

21/10/04 All five main arches are now in place, The front and rear bolt-on steel beams are yet to

be fixed into its final place.

21/10/04 Manoeuvring arch number five into place.

20/10/04 With the co operation of the dry weather the Ice Rink construction is progressing at great speed.

20/10/04 A cloudy but dry day is helping progress with the roof arches.

20/10/04 Three roof supports in place, then the fourth, only one more to go.

19/10/04 The final bolt is secured and brow's are mopped as the first arch takes its place.

19/10/04 I think there are another five of these enormous arches to be erected.

19/10/04 Finally the first arch is bolted in it's position as two young budding artists look on.

19/10/04 The first arch of the Ice rink roof is slowly hoisted into position.

18/10/04 Roof frames arrive for the Ice rink and they are huge.

18/10/04 All hands on deck to get these giant frames together.

15/10/04 It's a mammoth construction, the largest covered skating rink in the UK, and building

 over a lake makes the construction even more of a challenge.

15/10/04 Less then 3 weeks to go to the Big Lottery Party, it's all action down on the lake.

12/10/04 Part of the lake has been filled in with hardcore, I don't know if it will all be back filled

 or if what has been done so far is just a temporary fix for the Ice rink.

12/10/04 Ice rink construction in full flow, there's a deadline to be met here!

21/09/04 The ice rink site is being cleared, large concrete rings are going into place, believed to

 be foundation pads for the ice rink structure, which will be suspended over the lake and much

of the surrounding areas.

The start of the construction of the Ice Skating Rink