A 500-STRONG crowd provided unarguable evidence on Friday that the Andover roller disco is once again alive and skating.

The half-term disco at Andover Leisure Centre was a huge hit with young children, teenagers and adults, whose fond memories of years gone by are rapidly being overwritten by the quality of the new experience.

One of the people who campaigned to bring back the event, which was popular in the 80s and 90s but which had stopped over 25 years ago, was delighted with the roller disco 2000.

Glenn Johnson said: “The roller disco brought back some great memories of the retro years and is now making new ones.

“We thank everyone involved. I hope we can keep the momentum going and get even more people rolling.”

And Glenn won’t be disappointed, or have long to wait before he puts his skates on again. Valley Leisure, who run the leisure centre in partnership with Test Valley Borough Council, has promised there will be more roller discos in the near future.

“Getting more people, more active is the reason we’re here – and on Friday there were 500 of them, whizzing around the sports hall. It was brilliant.

We’re delighted we could help make it happen. There will be more,” said Linda Arnold, sport and activity development manager at Andover for Valley Leisure.