BLACKBURN Arena is launching an Ice Skating Academy in an attempt to unearth home grown talent.

The Arena is regarded as one of the best venues in the country with skaters regularly travelling from home and abroad to train there.

But currently there are very few skaters from East Lancashire, something head coach Kathryn Hudson is looking to rectify.

Hudson, who represented Great Britain at the Winter Olympic Games in Albertville in 1992, will take a team of seven skaters to the British Solo Dance Championships in Sheffield next month - but none of them are from local area.

Now the Arena is looking to attract young skaters aged between three and six years-old to turn them in to the stars of the future.

"Blackburn Arena is a top class ice skating facility and and we attract skaters from across the country with some even moving from abroad to be based here," said Hudson who heads up the coaching with husband Keith.

"But for one reason or another, we have very few competitive skaters from the East Lancashire area and that is something we need to rectify.

The Arena held its first open auditions on Saturday but Hudson said more will be held in the future. She also welcomed any interested skaters to go along and speak to coaches.

And she said the Arena is also hoping to be able to offer scholarships to skaters who are selected for the Academy.

"We want to make the sport more affordable and with it, more appealing." said added. "So we are looking at the idea of starting up a scholarship to help with costs."

Meanwhile, Hudson will take her current crop of talented young skaters to Sheffield looking for podium place and partners!

"We have some very good skaters going, and the aim is to try and get on the podium," she said. "For the others, it will also be about trying to achieve new personal best scores.

Skaters representing the Arena are are Dena Spencer ,15 from Penwortham, Owen Foster 15, Ellen Craggs, 17, and , Jasmine Robinson, 16, both from Blackpool, Bolton pair Sofia Tymchyshyn,17, and Beatrice De Goede, 12, and 10-year-old Lily Matthias from Lytham.

"While the British Solo Dance Championships is a big competition in its own right, it is basically for those skaters who do not have an ice skating partner," added Hudson. "They are the cream of the crop so you get a lot of people going looking to find a partner to move on to the next stage."