College of St Hild and St Bede

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**College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham**

Motto	Eadam mutata resurgo ("I rise again changed but the same")
Established	1975 (precursors in 1839 and 1858)
Type	College of the University of Durham
Principal	Dr Alan Pearson
Undergraduates	1080
Postgraduates	118
Location	St Hild's Lane, Durham, England
Website	www.dur.ac.uk/hild-bede/

The College of St Hild and St Bede, commonly known as Hild Bede, is a college of the University of Durham in England. It is the University's largest college, with over 1000 students. It is neither a Bailey nor a Hill college, and is situated on the banks of the River Wear between Durham's 'peninsula' and Gilesgate.

1 History
2 Buildings
3 Students
4 Notable alumni
5 External links

[edit] History

Hild Bede was formed in 1975 by the merger of two single-sex teacher training colleges: the College of the Venerable Bede, for men, was founded in 1839 and was associated with the University from 1892; while St Hild's College, for women, was founded in 1858 and was associated with the University from 1896. Graduates of St Hild's were the first female graduates from Durham in 1898.

[edit] Buildings

The college consists of several distinct buildings, including the main Hild building, which is the administrative hub of the college, other accommodation blocks, such as Thorp, Christopher, Bede, and several smaller houses such as Hild Gym, Bede Gym, Charles Stranks, Gables, Manor House, Manor Lodge and Belvedere. The college also owns two other houses, Grove and Ravensworth terrace though both of these are planned to be sold during 2006. At the centre of college is the Caedmon Complex, which contains a dining hall, bar, music rooms and the only student run cinema in the whole of Durham.

[edit] Students

The college is sometimes regarded as having a slightly disproportionate public school intake and an inclination towards competitive sport. Hild Bede's sporting reputation is without an equal, putting forward several teams in a variety of sports. The college maintains a high level of participation and achievement in all intercollegiate sporting leagues. Historically for the first time, as of the 2006-07 season Hild Bede will have three men's football teams in the highest university league, the premiership, which no other college can lay claim to.^[1]. The college's affiliated rugby team, Bede RFC, are the university's Floodlit Tournament Champions for 2005/6, and are one of the college's great institutions. In many years of touring they are yet to be defeated, and include victories over the national teams of Mexico, Estonia and Australia amongst their recent triumphs. In six years' of trying they remain unbeaten in the Gulf, a proud record that belies the club's cavalier and laid back attitude, which nevertheless consistently produces great teams and great results. They also have proven talents off the field writing, directing and starring in a satirical production entitled Gladiat-Rah, which was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won five Durham University Drama Awards. Many old boys of this great institution in the Summer months are seen playing for A Few Good Men Cricket Club.

Figures released in 2005 revealed that Hild Bede took in the highest proportion of entrants educated in the independent sector of any college (52%), narrowly ahead of Hatfield College (51%) and St Chad's College (50%), and significantly higher than St Mary's College, which had the lowest proportion of any college in Durham city (30%). For the University of Durham as a whole, including Queen's Campus in Stockton-on-Tees, the figure was 35%. Hild Bede also had the lowest proportion of entrants educated at comprehensive schools (23%), while St John's College was highest on this scale with 43%.^[2]