Star turner: Matthew has come on in leaps and bounds
LOOKING like a giant shard of glacial rock from a sci-fi landscape, The Chill Factore looms over the southbound carriageway of the M60 next to the Trafford Centre.
Most of us have seen it, some of us have experienced it, but one of the biggest criticisms of it at the time it was built was that it probably wouldn’t benefit the local community much – that ‘piste invaders’ would zoom in from the posher suburbs, maybe packing their own fancy boots and skis, and zoom back out again.
Matthew Henhaw disproves that particular theory. The 15-year-old lives just down the road from the Chill Factore in Monton, and while the rest of us have been basking in the sun and watching the World Cup or Wimbledon in recent weeks, Matthew has been clad in his thermals and perfecting his manoeuvres on the centre’s snow.
And it’s all down to his school – Wentworth High in Eccles – which has taken part, over eight weeks, in the Chill Factore’s Skiing Sport Unlimited programme for local schools.
Which has meant that for just £30, Matthew and his fellow pupils have been able to enjoy hour-long sessions and a final two-hour evening of races, when his team – picked from the eight competing schools in Salford and Trafford – finished third in the slalom.
Things have certainly come a long way since the days of football or netball and not much else on the school sports curriculum.
It has been an inspirational course for Matthew. So much so that he would now like to become a ski instructor in the Alps.
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The all-round sportsman, who also plays football for De La Salle FC and cricket for Worsley and who enjoys athletics, said: “I just love being on the Chill Factore slopes, and I’ve learnt so many new things in the past eight weeks.”
Those of a nervous disposition should look away now, as Matthew goes on to say exactly what: “I can now ski backwards and do 180 degree turns while doing jumps. This has made me want to work in a ski resort, hopefully as an instructor, but maybe first I could do something like that at the Chill Factore.”
Matthew has the advantage of having been on skiing holidays with his family and with the school to Italy, but out of 15 who did the course from Wentworth, five were absolute beginners who thought this year’s severe winter would be the closest they would ever come to deep snow.
“Everyone who’s done the sessions has really improved,” he said. “By the end we could all do slalom races, even those who had never skied before.”
Simon Evans, the teacher at Wentworth who accompanied the young skiers on the course, was most pleased by the fact that, unlike some real ski trips, no one wimped out.
“You always think that someone is going to complain about the cold or become scared of the slopes, but no one did, with no one dropping out and everyone improving incredibly,” he said.
“And you’ve got to remember that our school is just two miles away from the Chill Factore, so it is getting good local use. Some of the children have started to go in their own time. That was the goal of the programme, so if that continues and even more children have the confidence to go on their own, that will be very satisfying.
“The aim is that they don’t stop going and that they have a skill, and love of skiing, for life.
“Who’d have thought that so close to our school, children would be able to do jumps, ride over mogul fields and complete challenges in such great conditions?”
About 90 kids in total took part in the programme, the aim of which is to get 900,000 young people nationally to visit Chill Factor e and take part in taster sessions.
Stephen Evans, Chief Executive at Chill Factore, said that it had been ‘fantastic’ to see so many children take to the slopes and develop new skills.
“The instructors have been thoroughly impressed with the progression made and we look forward to welcoming the young, budding skiers back to Chill Factore where they can further hone their skills through one of our many beginner and advanced courses.”
The Chill Factore has a number of clubs, including The Chill Factore Race Club and the Ski Club of Manchester. And this summer it is staging activity programmes, events and competitions.
To discover more about Chill Factore, visit www.chillfactore.com/ or call 0161 749 2222.
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