Rollerworld Colchester to hold reunion event at Charter Hall

Rollerworld, a roller-skating rink which sadly closed last year due to reported rising rental costs, is set to host a night of entertainment at Charter Hall, in Cowdray Avenue, on November 18.

‘Rollerworld Re-union one year later: 80s v 90s Sk8acular’ will boast three separate skate sessions throughout the day which will try to recapture the magic of the iconic former venue.

There will be an hour long relaxed skate session from 11am until 12pm, an all-ages family session with games and music from 12pm until 5pm, and then an over 14s 80s vs 90s experience at 7pm until 11.30pm.

Family - Jason and Anne Khan with son Ashley at Rollerworld in Moorside Road when it shut down last year (Image: Newsquest)

During the afternoon and evening sessions, Rollerworld’s Jason and Anne Kahn, who were in charge of Rollerworld from 2018 until the Moorside business shut down in November 2022, will be revealing a “big announcement”.

Anne said: “It’s great, we keep getting asked to do events all the time.

“The opportunity came to hire out Charter Hall with the Colchester Events Company, it’s a really nice place for people to come and it’s local.

“We have three sessions, including a relaxed session for people with disabilities and sensory problems.

Popular - Rollerworld was active for 32 years before it was forced to close last year (Image: Gary Allard)

Fun - On Saturday's event at Charter Hall there will be a big announcement from Jason and Anne (Image: Gary Allard)

"We allow carers to walk on the rink as well and they can stay onto the 12pm to 5pm family event as well.

“We have a much bigger lighting system this time and the 80s vs 90s evening session will have DJs - it’s going to be an awesome night.

“We will bring all our lighting rigs, the music, the DJs, and we are using Leisure World’s speaker system - we are bringing Rollerworld in six vans.

“We have a big announcement as well in the afternoon and evening session, so if you want to hear it, come along.”

One of the DJs for the night will be Gary Allard, who is well-known as Ziggy and has been with Rollerworld since “the start”.

Gary, 52, used to work with the rink’s previous owner Andy Starr who owned the Rollerworld for 28 years until he sold the business to Jason and Anne in 2018.

Precious memories - A lovely photo of Gary and his family years ago at Rollerworld (Image: Gary Allard)

Rollerworld has been a huge part of Gary’s life since his early childhood, he even met his wife there and would often take his two sons to skate.

He said: “I was there from the start, I DJ’d and worked at Rollerworld full-time from 1999 until 2004.

“I will be there from the start on Saturday to help set-up and will be back later to DJ for the last couple of hours which is quite exciting.

“It is difficult to put it into words what it meant, as it was such a big part of my world.”

To purchase tickets for the event, click tinyurl.com/277darvm.