Frequently Asked Questions

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Hild & Bede is moving to a new location, can you tell me more about this?

The move is the literal embodiment of our motto, “I rise again changed but the same.” Though we might be located at a new location, we will still be Hild Bede, and we will continue to ensure that our students have an outstanding experience no matter where we are.

Over the summer of 2024 the College of St Hild & St Bede will moving from our historic Riverside site to Rushford Court and The Village at the Viaduct while works are undertaken to redevelop the College. The majority of our accommodation is at Rushford Court, however, we do have a number of rooms at The Village at the Viaduct for new and returning students. We anticipate that the works at our Riverside site will take place over at least the next three academic years. During this time, Hild and Bede will continue to be an active member of Durham’s collegiate community, where students will continue to have access to an excellent experience during their time at Durham. Our SRC (Student Representative Council), will still be hard at work ensuring that events like Welcome and Orientation Week, Formals, and Balls as well as Sports, Societies, and Committees, continue to flourish at Rushford Court and The Village. We will have a College café/bar where students can go to socialise and enjoy smaller events. Similarly, there will still be a common room for socialising and group study as well as a quite study space. Our staff will also be moving to our home at Rushford Court, ensuring that students can still receive support and guidance face to face.

Rushford Court provides Hild Bede with outstanding accommodation, where all undergraduates living in College will have an ensuite room (a room with private bathroom and shower). The accommodation is broken into cluster flats of between 4 and 10 students. Each cluster has their own kitchen with a dining space, in the larger clusters there are additional cooking facilities in the kitchen to accommodate the increase in individuals living in the cluster. This means that students will have the ability to be make new friends in a close community while also having sufficient space to relax and socialise in small groups.

Our postgraduates who live in College accommodation will have studio rooms at Rushford Court. Studios have the same facilities as an ensuite with the addition of private cooking facilities. Like our undergraduate students, they will have access to all the facilities at Rushford Court.

Additionally, our team is currently working with colleagues around the University and groups within the city to ensure there is sufficient space for our larger student groups, including theatre, film soc, chapel choir, and sports teams.

What provision has been made for clubs and where will they meet? 

Our Team have been working to source additional spaces for societies, sports teams, and committees while we are resident at Rushford Court. Societies and committees will be able to utilise dedicated spaces within the College Heart; however, for our larger societies, or those that require significant space to operate, we have set up special arrangements or are in the process of doing so. Some of these include:

• Bede Film Society - we will be leasing a now-vacant museum to rebrand as a 'cinema' alongside Student Enrichment. Their involvement means this could also act as Theatre space.
• Hild Bede Theatre - in addition to the above, we are hoping the lease will include the option for our theatre group to use Assembly Rooms more frequently, opposite the museum space.
• Chapel Choir - we have been visiting churches in the vicinity of Rushford Court to look at where our choir could host their two weekly services.
• Sports teams - we have spoken to the head of Team Durham who has offered us more sports daytime slots for 24/25 

These are only a few examples; our team will continue to work to ensure student activity and the space to do so is to a high standard.

With no catering, will you still have formals?

How far away will Hild Bede be from the boat house and will the boat club continue? 

Hild Bede Boat Club (HBBC) is one of our most successful and popular societies. The walk to the boathouse is 15-20 minutes depending on the route and the speed you walk. The great part of being in Durham is that the city is so small that nowhere is really that far. You can checkout the HBBC Instagram page and see what is going on with the boat club.

Yes, you will have somewhere to row next year. HBBC (Hild Bede Boat Club) is arguably our biggest club, being a very successful one too. HBBC is a club steeped in history and success, and so it absolutely must - and will - continue to operate next year. We strongly recommend following their Instagram page as they showcase their competitions, social, events and even a HBBCB (Hild Bede Boat Club Ball!) once per year. The previous boat club president Flora Nicholls did an absolutely incredible job of making the boat club more inclusive, not just for women but for anyone wanting to join and we have full faith in Henry (our new President) will continue this fabulous work.

Will there be a shop on site to buy groceries? If not, how far away is the nearest shop?

The College bar won't be opened when term starts, what alternative arrangements have the college made to ensure that new students have the opportunity to meet other students?

The College bar will be in the new purpose build student space, which will be opening on 14^th October. Our Head Freps and SRC President have already been planning the Fresher's Week schedule for 2024/25, and there will be ample opportunity to meet fellow HB students during these events. In addition, we are putting provisions in place to still have a social space serving drinks during both Fresher's Week and the time before the new bar is open.

 During Fresher's Week, there will also be a HB Fresher's Fair where you can sign up to as many of our c.40 societies, sports teams, committees, and clubs as you like - which provides an excellent way to meet other students, especially if you tie this into the wider University's Fresher's fair which is split into sports and societies respectively. There will be many, many opportunities for you to meet other students and we will have a multitude of individuals working on this throughout the summer. And, when the college bar is open, we are located in one of the most densely populated student areas (the viaduct) and so we will most likely attract students from across all colleges, not just HB and will be booked out for events and such. So yes, there should still be loads of opportunities to meet like-minded individuals; you will also have a flat who you share a kitchen with (provided you're not in a studio flat where you would have your own kitchen) so you will meet a core group that way too.

Will there be a library on the Rushford Court site?

There will not be a library per se, but we will have both quiet and social study spaces. The Bill Bryson Library is a c.25 minute walk from Rushford Court, which is the same travel time as from our current location.  

Rushford Court & The Village seem geographically isolated from the other colleges. Should I be at all concerned about this?