Young people in York will get the opportunity to gain work experience at one of York's most popular city centre events this Christmas thanks to a partnership between City of York Council's Youth Service and The Ice Factor.

The iniative will offer young people the chance to get some work experience at York's outdoor ice rink, giving them some key skills needed to take them forward in the future, and a greater awareness of how a business operates in the public arena.

The Ice Factor team will take on two part-time paid employees to work at the rink outside of their school commitments. The chosen candidates will be shown how the ice is made and maintained, and gain an understanding of how the ice rink is run as a business.  In addition, the candidates will get a taste of each job at The Ice Factor, including handling the skate hire. 

Further unpaid work experience placements will also be offered to young people, who will spend a few hours on site to gain an understanding of how the event is organised and how it is run on a daily basis.

Paul Herring, head of the council's Youth Service, said: "For young people to be given an opportunity like this is quite unusual and we believe that it will make a huge difference to how the young people see their future. There is such a stigma attached to some young people, often based purely on where they live or how they dress, and giving them this chance to change public perceptions will be a huge breakthrough.  Of those already chosen for this initiative, the excitement is clearly evident."

Maria Farrugia, executive producer of The Ice Factor, said: "We are thrilled to be the first event in York that can offer the council's Youth Service and young people the chance to work with such a large scale public event.

"The gap between the young people that come to the rink daily and the staff who work hard to make the event the success it is, has been too big for too long.  By getting on board with this project, we hope to bridge that gap by showing individuals what we do on site, why we have certain processes in place and why we try and ensure the event is run smoothly at all times, keeping any anti-social behaviour at bay."

The scheme will be monitored closely by all parties involved and is already looking like it will be a huge success, especially as so many applicants have already expressed interest.