College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham Information

The College of St Hild and St Bede, also known as Hild Bede, is a college of Durham University in England. It is the Universitys second largest collegiate body, with over 1000 students. The co-educational college was formed in 1975 following the merger of two much older single-sex institutions, the College of the Venerable Bede for men and St Hilds College for women.

Hild Bede is neither a Bailey nor a Hill college, and is situated on the banks of the River Wear between Durhams peninsula and Gilesgate.

The College of the Venerable Bede, for men, was founded in 1838 with a small number of trainee schoolmasters. The college was expanded greatly over the next few decades with the assistance of trade unionist and future local MP William Crawford, who would later become the colleges treasurer. Its sister institution, St Hilds College, was opened for the education of women on an adjacent site in 1858. Both colleges initially specialised in teacher training but in 1892 for Bede and 1896 for Hild they became associated with the federal University of Durham, offering BA and BSc degrees alongside teaching in education. Graduates of St Hilds were the first female graduates from Durham in 1898. The Chapel of the Venerable Bede, completed in 1939 to celebrate Bede Colleges centenary, was designed by Paul Edward Paget.

The two colleges retained links throughout the next century with shared teaching and facilities. In the 1960s they constructed the shared Caedmon Complex. It was then that it was decided that the colleges should be formally merged and in 1975 they became the unitary College of St. Hild and St. Bede, a recognised college of the university. In 1979 Hild Bede joined the College Council, becoming a full constituent college of the university and ceasing to award its own PGCE qualifications. At this point some of the College buildings (including much of the teaching facilities of the Bede site) were occupied by the Universitys Department of Education, whilst the College centred its academic administration on the old Hilds site.

The college consists of several distinct buildings, including the main Hild building, which is the administrative hub of the college containing the main college library, offices, computer room, common rooms and a large number of student rooms; other larger accommodation blocks, such as Thorp, Christopher, Bede; and several smaller houses such as Hild Gym, Bede Gym, Charles Stranks, Gables, Manor House, Manor Lodge, Belvedere and Grove House.

At the centre of college is the Caedmon Complex, which contains a dining hall, the bar (The Vernon Arms, named after the original Hild Bede Principal, Dr Vernon Armitage, music rooms and the only student-run cinema in Durham, Bede Film Soc.

The college is one of two colleges in Durham to have two chapels – The Chapel of St. Hild (now a function room named the Joachim Room) and The Chapel of the Venerable Bede (still in use).

The college also maintains a boat house used by the boat club on the river near the Caedmon Complex.

Unlike most colleges of the university, the student body is not divided into Junior and Middle Common Rooms, instead both the undergraduate and postgraduate communities are represented by a single Student Representative Council (SRC). The SRC does however contain a special postgraduate committee and maintains the physical Junior and Middle Common Rooms, both in the Hild Building. The SRC is run by an elected exec that is headed by a sabbatical president. The college also has a Senior Common Room (SCR) consisting of the college tutors, past and current members of college staff and invited members of the wider community.

To maintain the history of the two original colleges, males in the college wear the Bede colours of light and dark blue, the colours that the College are more widely known for, whilst female colours are the green and lilac of the original Hild College. The College Arms also represents the history of the precursor colleges, with the chief taken directly from the Arms of the College of the Venerable Bede and the chevron being adapted from the bend of Arms of St. Hild College.

The gowns worn by members of the college, retained from before the college became a constituent college of the University, differ from other Durham gowns in being made of brocaded fabric and being shorter. These are worn at matriculation and graduation, but not at formal hall. Formals are instead black tie events and happen around ten times a year.

Held in the Joachim Room, these are formal, gowned, black tie dinners that happen four times per year.

Like most Durham colleges, Hild Bede celebrates an annual college day, usually in early May. This day usually includes a champagne breakfast on the college lawns; an optional service in the cathedral; a buffet lunch in the dining hall and a marquee; picnics and barbecues on the lawns; and entertainment throughout the day including bands, fairground-style events, disco, ceilidh and college olympics.

In late April, the college is host to the sounding retreat ceremony in conjunction with the Durham Light Infantry Association. Initially instituted to remember students and staff of the Bede College Company who lost their lives at the Second Battle of Ypres, it now commemorates all former members of the college who have died in conflicts around the world.

The college also hosts two annual balls, the Christmas ball at the end of Michaelmas Term and the summer ball after exams have finished. The summer ball has an annual budget of £60,000 and usually attracts a headline act. It has attracted acts such as Showaddywaddy, Pixie Lott, The Feeling, Scouting for Girls, Basshunter and Redlight. It is one of the biggest balls in Durham, primarily due to the size of the budget and the entertainment provided.

Hild Bede AFC are the college football club and won the Premiership in the 2014/15 season. There have also been successes in the lower teams, with the 3s being promoted in 2018 and the 7s finishing 7th in 2019.

The colleges affiliated rugby teams are Bede RFC (the mens team, playing in the traditional Bede College colours of light and dark blue) and Hild RFC (the womens team, playing in the traditional St Hilds College colours of green, purple and white).

The boat club can also boast recent successes; qualifying for Henley Royal Regatta in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016.

Hild Bede Theatre is the biggest college drama society in Durham and puts on at least three productions annually, including a musical at the beginning of the third term. In 2009–10 they won two Durham Oscars, "best college play" for "Whos afraid of Virginia Woolf" and "Best college musical" for 42nd Street. They have won the latter more times than any other Durham theatre group, having won for the last 7 years in a row.

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