IT WAS at a time when Eddie the Eagle was fresh in the minds of the British public and the dry ski slope at Southampton Sport Centre was in high demand.

“If only people would remember that they can learn to ski just as well in the summer,” said manager at the time Keith Woodhouse.

Nearly three quarters of the people on the courses were complete beginners.

When these pictures were taken on December 8, 1988, the staff at the ski slope were educating kids as young as four as well as men in the seventies.