WHILE this week’s freeze-up brought chaos to much of the country, they were toasting Mother Nature in Fenland.

For as temperatures fell to near-record levels, they were lacing up their skates ready to hit the ice at Welney Wash.

Skaters hoped to take to the ice on Saturday, but after a bit of a thaw over the weekend Tuesday’s big freeze saw workers from one company based in the village to go skating during their lunchbreak.

“The ice has been good, it’s been a bit bumpy but generally it’s been good skating,” said Gary Everson, contracts manager with Giles Landscapes.

“We had a bit of a thaw at the weekend but it froze again, there was a few tufts of grass coming through so it was not perfect but it was pretty good for natural ice.”

Thirty skaters enjoyed a spin on a patch of ice more than 150yds long, on one of the flooded washes near the River Delph.

Mr Everson said: “Last year we had close to 1,000 people over a weekend. It was a Tuesday dinner time and a few people had their dark glasses on because they’re supposed to be at work.”

Temperatures in Fenland fell to as low as -10C on Monday night, but temperatures are tipped to improve for the weekend.

Anglian Water said it has been deluged with people calling in about frozen pipes, with more than 2,000 calls on Tuesday morning - a 150 per cent increase on normal.