The tuition page of the site has been updated to include details of our second Island coach, Matthew Russell. Matthew is currently accepting new skaters for private lessons, and can be contacted through Planet Ice Ryde.

Sharon Buckman has been co-opted to the committee to fill the vacancy left by Wendy Fishel. Sharon, who will focus on fund-raising efforts, was unanimously accepted onto the committee at the meeting on 9 November.

The meeting was the fourth consecutive meeting that Jeff Fishel has not attended. As a result he was asked whether he still wanted to be on the committee. He has decided to tender his resignation.

The committee is therefore still one member short. Anyone who wishes to be considered for the committee, and who has the time to give to such a commitment, should talk to the secretary or chairwoman.

The IW annual artistic competitions are covered by a full feature article on the IW County Press website.

Website: www.iwcp.co.uk

iSkate (November 2007) in a report on the Chelmsford opens carries a statement that IW skaters boycotted the opens because of Chelmsford club’s ban on photography at the event. There is no truth in that statement, and the IWID&FSC had said so when contacted by an iSkate reporter for comment.

The IW committee has written to iSkate and requested a retraction and an apology. The committee also pointed out that the IW club’s policy on photography at competitions is identical to that of Chelmsford.

The origin of the report is being investigated and will be discussed at the scheduled committee meeting next week.

Milton Keynes’ club website is now live again after months of being unavailable.

Club website: http://www.mkisc.org.uk/

Oxford’s website has moved and been redesigned.

Club website: http://www.freewebs.com/oxford-figure-club/

We regularly check links given in the sidebar to see whether they still work. If you encounter any that do not work, or which do not connect to fully functional sites, please let Ian know at club@iowfigureskaters.co.uk.

Checks shows that Dundee Ice Skating Club’s site does not work on a Mac, or in any browser other than Internet Explorer on the PC, and is therefore not fully functional.

The BBC has removed its Comedy Guide, and therefore the link for Thin Ice no longer works.

Both the above links have therefore been removed.

Several parents have asked how the scoring system works, following the artistic competition on 21 October.

The competition used the relative judging system (RJS), which is the old 0.0 to 6.0 scoring system. A brief guide to how the system works and results are calculated is available here: the_rjs_system.pdf

Please note that the system involves maths that may seem complicated. It’s why a computer is used to process the results.

Anyone who is interested in learning how to process results and to help in this regard at IW competitions should contact Ian Marsh through a committee officer. We need to train more people to help with this aspect of club competitions.

Top three places at the IWID&FSC’s annual artistic competition, held at Planet Ice Ryde on 21 October, were as follows:

Class 1A, under level 1, 9 years and under: 1 Jemma Southwell, 2 Tia Daley, 3 Felicity Gingras. Full results: class01a.pdf

Class 1B, under level 1, 10 to 12 years: 1 Daisy Jones, 2 Leah Hancott, 3 Lucy Burns. Full results: class01b.pdf

Class 1C, under level 1, 13 years and over: 1 Heather MacDonald, 2 Charlotte Mennie, 3 Rachel Dickson. Full results: class01c.pdf

Class 2, level 1: 1 Zoe Southwell, 2 Demi-Shree Agar, 3 Kirsty Atter. Full results: class02.pdf

Class 3, levels 2 and 3: 1 Yelena Brown, 2 Sarah Close, 3 Maggie Read. Full results: class03.pdf

Class 4, level 4 and over: 1 Carol Taverner, 2 Gemma Marsh, 3 Gemma Fishel. Full results: class04.pdf

Class 5, adults: 1 Steve Wood. Full results: class05.pdf

Class 6, groups: 1 Jemma Southwell, Zoe Southwell, Tia Daley and Louisa Wrighton; 2 Yelena Brown and Nicole Hinton; 3 Leah Hancott, Lucy Burns and Maggie Read. Full results: class06.pdf

IW synchronised skaters took their second bronze at national level in UK competitions this year, taking third place at elementary level at Sk8Scotland in Dumfries on 16 October.

A team of 11 travelled all the way to Dumfries for the Sk8Scotland competition as well as for a synchro training camp on 17 and 18 October to receive coaching from world-class coaches.

Injuries meant that only nine could ultimately take part in the Wightlink-sponsored Wight Diamonds team. The Diamonds were the top-placed English team in their class, with Scottish teams taking the top two places.

Team members were Emma Wilks (captain), Gemma Marsh (vice-captain), Gemma Fishel, Kate Nutbourne, Amy Bowkis, Maggie Read, Charlotte Mennie, Zoe Southwell, Jemma Southwell, Louisa Wrighton and Isabelle Coeshott.

The Diamonds’ next big competition is the British Championships in Sheffield in January, where they hope to improve on the bronze they won earlier this year.

“The girl’s results are amazing and due to the hard work and dedication we now have three synchro teams good enough to compete in the British Championships this year - our intermediate team the Wight Gems, our juvenile team the Wight Crystals and our premier team the Wight Diamonds,” says coach Terri Smith.

The Diamonds are looking for sponsorship to help towards their new costumes, travel, accommodation, and coaching fees. If you can help please contact coach Terri Smith through Planet Ice Ryde; Terri will be able to provide contacts for the team managers.

All three synchro teams will be performing in the Christmas ice gala on 7 to 9 December. Contact Planet Ice on 01983 615155 for more details.

Three of the Island’s competitive figure skaters won silver at Alexandra Palace opens in London.

Maggie Read was second in the beginner ladies aged 11 and over, just missing out on gold on a two to one split on the judges. This is the last time that Maggie will compete at beginner level as she has recently passed her level 1 and 2 National Ice Skating Association tests.

Twelve-year-old Sarah Close finished second in the level two competition in her fast flowing style in a new programme to Greek-style music. Both Sarah and Maggie competed in large groups, meaning there was loads of competition.

Archie Bicknell collected silver in the level three boys event with his interpretation of Battle of the Planets. He was also narrowly beaten on a two judges to one verdict. Archie has recently passed his level 4 test and will now be able to extend his programme to include double jumps.

Also skating was nine-year-old Nikita Heathfield, who finished in fifth place against a strong field of 16 skaters.

Results of all competitions are available on the Alexandra Palace website.