What a wonderful evening, we had celebrating 25 years of the Oxford ice rink.

I was impressed and delighted to see all those charming children in their splendid costumes – from tiny toddlers to shining teenagers and budding champions, including those terrific lads, the Oxford Freestylers, who won the Dancing on Ice Star competition in February.

The idea behind the ice rink is participation for boys and girls.

But something was missing; something really important to the survival of the ice rink – the ones who book ice time from 6-8 am, from 11pm-2am, who lug all that equipment around and take out their agression with stick and puck.

Where were the Oxford Stars, the Junior Stars, the RAF Blues, the Oxford University Women’s team, the Alternate Hockey nut cases who practise their strange art from 11.45pm-1.15am on Wednesday nights?

And where were all those kids who turn up for the stick and puck session for beginners every Sunday?

Somebody said they had their own celebration last week at the Chelmsford game – by wearing old shirts, and playing music from the 80s.

I would love to have seen a few hockey players mixing in with the elegant ice dancers.

We said at the start, back in 1980, that an ice skating rink could and should be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The ice is still there, after all.

Well, Oxford is not bad. It is open and used by all these groups from 6 am to 2am.

If Jane Torville and Christopher Dean or young hopefuls need to practise in the small hours, no doubt a night manager could be supplied.

There are, I am reliably informed, 400 people on the waiting list for skating lessons. The management of the rink has been taken over from the city council by a non-profit trust, Fusion Lifestyle.

This is what we tried to do back in 1980, so here’s hoping they can sort out a couple of the problems, such as parking and transport.

The need to improve traffic circulation in the city centre has led to some truly tremendous parking charges, even at night and at weekends. Come on guys, if we park in a supermarket car park, the store waives the charge. Let’s have something of the same for ice rink users. Especially at weekends and in the evening.

And why is there no bus stop outside the rink? It could serve the college as well. That is just pathetic planning.

But, as Robin Cousins said in his note to the Oxford Gala, “at a time when some rinks have fallen off the skating map, Oxford has maintained its support from the local community and continues to thrive.”

And so it has, despite closing its cafe and bar, and strangling users with punitive parking charges.

However, it has such a low profile that some people imagine the rink has closed already.

Mary Meagher, Hugh Allen Crescent, Oxford