Last year I did not have a good ice skating experience.

Having decided I would like to twirl romantically around the rink at Somerset House in London, my boyfriend, Mark, bought me tickets for Christmas, and we headed down there in the early new year.

While the setting was lovely, I was rubbish, despite having spent many Saturdays at my local ice rink as a young girl.

And to add insult to injury, Mark, who had fairly limited skating experience, was actually quite good and managed to get up a reasonable speed while I clutched the side anxiously.

This year, I was leaving nothing to chance, and enlisted the help of Phantoms defender James Hutchinson (23) to bring out my inner Jane Torvill.

James's starting point was quite simple – wrap up warm.

Gloves are an advantage, both for warmth and also to prevent hand injuries should you take a tumble. Likewise, a thick pair of trousers is useful to prevent too much bruising.

James's lessons usually start off the ice, getting used to the position.

The ideal stance is to stand with your legs shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent and leaning slightly forward.

Other important pre-ice information is learning how to get up safely when you have fallen over.

Because, James said, falling over is part of skating, especially when you are starting out.

"You're going to fall over, everybody falls over their first time. The quicker you accept that you're going to fall over, the quicker you will learn to skate," he said.

When you do fall down, it is important to try to get back on your feet by getting onto your knees first, and to avoid putting your hands down, as if you do they can be injured by other skaters.

Because I had done some skating before, my lesson started straight on the ice, although I didn't feel like I'd had much experience when I took my first few wobbly steps onto the rink.

Luckily James was literally on hand to catch me if I fell – he skated backwards in front of me to stop me crashing down onto the ice.

It turns out what had stopped me gliding round the ice like a figure skater last year was a bit of bad technique, not a total lack of ability as I had feared.

The way to skate properly is to transfer your weight from side to side (foot to foot) and to push your feet outwards to the sides slightly.

Skating with your feet straight ahead is going to get you nowhere fast.

"When you push your legs outwards, your blade will dig into the ice and it will move you. If you go straight forward the blade will go into the ice and it will be like being on a treadmill," James said.

My previous method involved pushing off from behind me with the blades perfectly straight, which may explain why I didn't exactly make huge progress around the ice.

This time, while I didn't exactly whiz round, I did feel a bit more like I could actually let go of the side.

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