A FRIEND of mine is busy gearing up for her daughter's seventh birthday.

The birthday girl and 11 of her friends are in a state of excitement about her party at the ice rink in Queen Square, Brighton.

In the meantime they're using the party as a good excuse to pop along to practise their skating ready for the big day.

I'll never forget a similar birthday treat one of my friends held there.

At that time venues rarely organised the slick entertainment packages they do today so it was left to Rachel's poor mum to keep us all in check and entertained.

One girl, whose family had a long involvement in skating, sped rings around the rest of us.

But we laughed, giggled and wobbled our way around the rink until we eventually spent more time on our feet than on our bottoms.

Not long after Rachel's party we were thrilled when we heard about plans to build a big new ice rink in Brighton.

Sadly, young as we were, we didn't realise this 'new ice rink' had been promised for years.

We still haven't got a modern ice rink and now even the Queen Square one, criticised by some for being the size of a small backyard, is up for sale.

Ilike to think that if you live in Brighton and Hove everything is on your doorstep. There are the natural benefits, like the sea and the Downs, the arts scene, good shops and an endless number of great restaurants.

But there's not that much for youngsters in those wilderness years between small child and independent teenager.

They get to a stage where they're too big to trail around with their parents all the time but not quite old enough to be allowed out and left entirely to their own devices.

Imagine the number that would flock to a new ice rink, escaping from their couch potato weekends slumped in front of the television or their computer games.

On the Tuesday afternoon my friend and her daughter visited the Queen Square rink it was full of people of all ages.

Hopefully, before they're too old to appreciate it, we'll have a brand new ice rink all her daughter's friends can really enjoy.

I'VE JUST HEARD, from another friend, about a job interview she attended where everyone was subjected to one of those personality tests that involves working in a team for a bit of role play.

Their brief was to organise a dinner party for the Millennium, inviting anyone from the last century, dead or alive, who has made a worthwhile and substantial contribution to the lives of others.

They all sat around discussing the likes of Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa.

But one interviewee piped up: "What about Richard and Judy or Robbie Williams?".

While there's war raging around the world, relief organisations battling to help the sick and dying, and gun maniacs killing innocent children, it's sad, but no surprise that, for some people, television and pop stars are still the real heroes of the day.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.