KATHERINE MACALISTER talks to Oxford’s very own ice skating champion Tammy Sear about the upcoming festive extravaganza

This weekend, the Oxford Ice Rink will be transformed into a festive ice extravaganza where skaters past and present will showcase the best in ice entertainment.

A Stocking Full of Musicals depicts scenes from Mary Poppins, Oliver Twist and West Side Story as well as featuring local champions, national and international performers. All in all, a great line-up for an exciting skating spectacular. And here to tell us all about it is Tammy Sear, right, ex British figure skating champion, Oxford resident, coach and Christmas performer.

“We have David Richardson – the current British Men’s Champion, Sophie Jones and Jordan Brown, an international Ice Dance pair, Nikitia Aston and Steven Copsey, a new exciting pairs partnership as well as Oxford School of Skating and Oxford Figure Ice Skating Club, performing,” she says proudly. “But we also aim to showcase local talent because since Dancing on Ice, we’ve had so many new skaters from age three to 60 learning to ice skate, that it has really inspired people.

“And we also know that lots of people who come to see the Christmas show at Oxford start skating afterwards, so it is hugely inspiring to watch.”

As for Tammy, even though she no longer competes on an international stage, she can’t wait to join in with the fun: “I’m Mary Poppins,” she beams, “and my little daughter is in it too, so I can’t wait.”

And if anyone needs any encouragement, Tammy’s story should do the trick. So when did she start skating? “We’d watched Oxford Ice Rink being built,” the 35 year-old remembers. “It was post Torville and Dean at the Olympics so skating was very trendy and I begged my parents to take me for my eighth birthday, and as soon as I got on the ice, that was it – I was hooked, they couldn’t get me off. One of the coaches spotted me whizzing around and talked to my parents and that was it,” she says.

Tammy, who lived in Kidlington, used to train before and after school every day, and it all paid off because aged 22 she was the British Figure Skating Champion. She then went on to become a principal soloist in commercial shows all over the world, such as Hot Ice, before retiring and coming home to Oxfordshire.

And, with two young children herself, she is still heavily involved with Oxford’s ice skating community, coaching whenever possible: “It’s great to come back to Oxford where it all started and give back some of the knowledge and experience I’ve learned over the years,” she smiles.

A Stocking Full of Musicals runs at Oxford Ice Rink this Saturday and Sunday at 5pm and 7pm. Call 01865 467002 to book.