‘The joy of fen skating is a great metaphor for life’

When photographer Harry George Hall began reading about fen skating, he decided to make his way to rural Cambridgeshire to see it for himself. Despite a number of failed attempts through flooded roads and darkness, the perfect weather conditions suddenly prevailed.

Fen skating takes place when a meadow floods and then freezes over, so the ice is very shallow, in places just a few centimetres, unlike frozen lakes.

“After subscribing to weather alerts for obscure corners of East Anglia,” says Mr Hall, “I made many trips to fen skating ‘hotspots’ to find thin or melted ice, rain or flooded roads.”

He found no sign of skaters or a wonky telegraph pole often referred to in fen skating circles.

“But I knew when the conditions aligned, it would be worth it.

“This was a very niche thing to capture precisely because the conditions had to be perfect.”

Then, one day, he struck fen skating gold.

“As I pulled up, there was this golden winter sun, that first hard frost – everything I could want with the biggest budget in the world was here, naturally, now.

“It was humbling,” he says.

What followed became a collection of images Mr Hall, who grew up in Suffolk, hopes will be kept in local archives of this time – in this place.

“As a photographer and a director I’m always fascinated by people,” Mr Hall says.

“So this wasn’t just about skating, it was about the personalities – this little congregation of people. There are 74-year-olds out there.

“It is freeing, calm and peaceful – there’s nothing technical about it. They rely on nothing but the environment and the weather.

“It’s not around for long – someone told me it’s a great metaphor for life. The ice will melt and in the summer this will be a dustbowl.”

“There’s a wonky telegraph pole in the centre that has become a beacon for fen skaters gathering – it’s been there for years.

“You hear them before you see them, the sound reverberates, bouncing down the fen – then there’s that scraping sound. People are really enjoying themselves.

“When you take your camera out, people can be suspicious but it’s a beautiful thing. Even the sight of their belongings on the side.”

“It can be demoralising trying to find them at first – it’s not all laid out for you, you have no control over it.

“I’d travelled to a few different spots like Welney and Sutton Gault near Willingham, but the weather wasn’t right, the fen was too flooded.

“But I rejoiced when I found them.

“Looking back at it now, it’s very rare for those conditions to be right for a photographer – that canvas.”

“When I put the pictures out, everyone had a story, a grandparent or great-grandparent who did it.

“I think it is so important that things like this are documented, it is so historical. It is telling a story – you are getting across the humanity of life.

“It is an amazing snapshot of what it is to live like this – to be.”