Launch of Sunderland festive ice rink cancelled due to bad weather

Last year's Christmas in Sunderland Frost Village official opening event. Picture by David Wood

The annual festive attraction was due to be launched with a gala event tonight from 6pm where professional solo skaters Gary Beacom and Lisa Brewin were due to officially open the venue to the public.

But bad weather has meant organisers have had to cancel it.

The launch is due to be rearranged for another date which will be announced in the coming days.

The open-air ice rink is set to be open until the first week in January as part of the Christmas celebrations in the city centre, organised by Sunderland Business Improvement District (BID).

Weather forecasters say there will be further wintry showers through the night and a cold and frosty start to Friday with wintry showers becoming lighter and less frequent by afternoon.

Best of sunny spells in morning then turning cloudy by dusk and maximum temperature 5 °C.

The outlook for Saturday to Monday is weather turning milder during the weekend with some mainly light rain possible.