A festive trail of ice sculptures will be unwrapped in Bradford city centre in time for Christmas – but anyone wanting to see them will have to get there before they melt away.

Visitors to City Park will be able to go on a tour of the frozen artworks and watch a ‘live carve’ on Saturday, December 21.

On the day, artist Jamie Wardley will use a chainsaw, chisels and an ice knife to carve an eyecatching statue out of blocks of ice.

Mr Wardley, of Ilkley, and a team from his Bradford-based creative company, Sandinyoureye, will produce a life-sized sleigh and once complete, children will be able to sit on it alongside Santa.

The remaining sculptures will be produced off-site and revealed later in the day.

In total, the 18 sculptures are designed to tell the story of The Children of the Snow and the Boy with the Little Idea.

The tale is about a young boy in the North Pole who plays with the magical ‘Children of the Snow’.

This boy has an idea about how to make children happy on Christmas Day, and this idea goes on to change the world.

Actors will bring the story to life by taking visitors on dramatised tours of the icy artworks.

Sandinyoureye has created a number of artworks in Bradford over the years, including a huge sand sculpture of Charles Darwin in 2009 and the Have You Seen Santa ice sculpture trail last year.

The live carve starts at 11am and people will be able to see all the sculptures from 1pm.

Tours of The Children of the Snow and the Boy with the Little Idea will run every half hour from 1.30pm to 5.30pm on the day.

The ice sculptures will then be on display in City Park until they melt.

The show has been put on courtesy of Bradford Council.