ALICE (Accelerators and Lasers In Combined Experiments) is a prototype energy recovery linac test accelerator hosted by Daresbury Laboratory. This talk will discuss the many challenges encountered in the development and commissioning of this facility. The key achievements will be discussed, including the recent success with the infra-red free electron laser. Finally the future plans for this facility will be discussed in the wider context of the future provision for electron test accelerators for UK accelerator scientists.
