Rachel Warren, a primary-school teacher, has been skating since the age of 15 –shortly before the closure of the old Riverside Rink. In 2006, she decided to dig out her skates again and began training once again at Billingham Forum.

“It’s not ideal as it’s a 52 mile round trip, which isn’t great taking into account the price of petrol earlier this year and the fact that I am visiting the rink at least three times a week. I’m also skating at Whitley Bay once a week (again about 52 mile round trip!) and it takes between 35 and 50 minutes to get there aswell. Through this though I have been able to meet so many lovely people so I guess it worked out quite well.” Rachel told us.

“When I found out Durham may be getting a new rink it was great, it means I’ll be able to skate much more frequently, and if it were to follow most other rinks and have an early morning session for figure skating it would mean I could train on quieter ice before going to work instead of limiting myself to busy public sessions.

As a teacher the only times I can skate are when the children are out of school and during the winter months it makes it hard to practise anything safely. Having a rink so close to home and place of work means that I could hopefully get more practise in.

It would also be great to see the children I teach there. Most 4 year-olds don’t believe that a teacher can ice skate, and many have said they would like to try it, but the rinks are too far away for them. A rink on their doorstep makes it much more possible for them and it would be lovely to see them there occasionally.”

Alex Wall first skated when she was 9 and on holiday in Plymouth. 

“At the time I didnt really have a great interest in skating so never got to try the Durham Rink and when I did get interested I had to wait until passing my driving test in 2003 to give me the freedom to travel to Billingham for lessons. Having the rink back in Durham would mean so much to so many people as well as myself. I know i will be able to afford lessons as it would only be a 20 mile round trip, saving on petrol and time.” 

Lisa Brewin (pictured above) first look to the ice in Durham as a youngster, and despite the set-back of Durham’s closure shortly afterwards, she is now a professional skater for the world’s largest touring live-entertainment production Holiday on Ice. Lisa has been on the professional circuit for over 5 years now, and has starred in a number of shows around the world. She is currently rehearsing for a new production in Holland called Energia. Lisa told us how the rink’s in 1996 closure affected her:

“I was just starting secondary school when our rink was closed and I was devastated. I had such dreams of training in the morning and afternoon sessions walking to and from school.
Thankfully I still made it into shows, my dream career but it wasn’t easy, something I definitely could not have done without the sacrifces and time my parents also put in. I was lucky in a sense that there were other rinks to go such as Sunderland – which has also sadly closed – and Billingham but it was never the same feeling as having your own skating club in your own city. ”

Though she is often a long way from home these days, Lisa is also very excited about plans to bring ice back to Durham once again:

“The news of another rink in Durham City is fantastic and maybe in the future there could be a job for me there coaching or choreographing! Figure Skating and Hockey are both such wonderful sports. It takes patience, strength and skill to become a skater something that has endless possibilities. Its a sport that can really excite kids and you can enjoy at all ages. Im so happy others will now have the oppounity to skate and share the love of the sport that I and many others have.”

Tuesday morning saw the announcement of Arena plans featured prominently on the Mike Parr Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Newcastle.

A series of vox-pops with local Durham residents was followed by a phone interview live on the show with myself (once I’d remembered to turn the answerphone off in a blind panic). Click on the link below to listen to the full feature. (Approx 4mins)

Durham City’s MP, Roberta Blackman-Woods has today added her support to plans for a new ice arena in Durham. In today’s Northern Echo she declared last week’s announcement as “great news”.

She said: “I am pleased that my suggestion of Belmont as a possible site for a new ice rink has ultimately been successful.

“One of my key campaigns has been to try to get more facilities for young people in our city and a new ice rink is part of that effort.

“But not only that; having more and better leisure facilities is key to local sport and tourism, and the new site should create more jobs too.

“I hope the local councils move quickly to look at and approve this new sporting facility and I look forward to its opening in due course.”

The announcement was made public at the inaugural Ian Defty Memorial Trophy at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena and received possibly the biggest cheer of the evening from the crowd.

The new rink will be located at the former LG Philips site at Belmont, forming part of the next phase of the recently created 42-acre Mandale Business Park on the outskirts of the city.

Former Philips LG site at Belmont, Durham.

The proposed development will boast a 3,000-seater ice arena with an Olympic-sized (60m x 30m) ice pad plus cafés, restaurants, a fitness suite and retail outlets designed to complement the centre’s leisure facilites.

The proposals have been masterminded by a north-based company set up to invest in new leisure and retail opportunities in the region. A spokesman for the developers said:

“We want to create a high-quality visitor experience, and we believe by bringing these leisure facilities together under one roof we can create a landmark leisure destination to attract users from across the region.”

Following detailed negotiations with Mandale Group - the owners of the site -   the developers are confident they can now move ahead with the project and have begun initial discussions with Durham City Council regarding planning consent.

Joe Darragh from Mandale Group said: ” If final terms can be agreed and the local planning authority approve it, the development would be great for the city and we believe would be a very popular venue bringing visitors from miles around to Durham. Everybody would benefit from this fantastic facility.”

The County Durham Ice Foundation welcomed the announcement, saying:

“It’s been a long time coming, but we are delighted by the news and extremely excited by the plans. People in Durham of all ages have been crying out for a facility like this for years, and we’re confident it will exceed a lot of people’s expectations.”

As well as providing a much needed ice skating facility for the local community, the arena will see the much-anticipated return of ice hockey to Durham once again.

It is anticipated that up to 200 jobs could be created by the leisure scheme and the developers aim to involve several local business in its creation. The centre could potentially be open for business by as early as Autumn 2009. Any comments, suggestions or commercial interest in the development can be directed through rich@cdif.org.uk

More details will be released as we get them. Thanks for sticking with us over the years, it’s been a long slog, but ladies and gentlemen, we’re confident that the ice age is upon us once again.

A new ice rink development for Tyneside was announced on Sunday 24th August which could see a 3,000 seater arena built on land adjacent to Gateshead International Stadium.

The proposed 7 acre development would offer a range of new sporting facilities to complement the existing International Stadium, Indoor Athletics Hall, sports academy and English Institute of Sport Performance Centre.

The centrepiece of the new development would be a new ice arena catering for public skating, ice hockey and other ice events, with expressions of interest from potential developers and operators currently being sought. by Gateshead Council.

The announcement was made on as part of the Olympic ‘Fly The Flag’ ceremony, where the Mayor of Gateshead, Councillor Maureen Chaplin was joined by two young athletes from Gateshead Harriers to raise Gateshead’s Olympic Flag. The ceremony coincided with the handover of the Olympic Flag to the Mayor of London as part of the closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Announcing the start of Gateshead’s search for a developer, Councillor David Napier, Cabinet member for Culture, said:

“Gateshead International Stadium is already a world-famous athletics venue, and its reputation as a major training facility is growing. Our aim now is to capitalise on what we already have here by developing something really special.”

The County Durham Ice Foundation fully supports these plans to bring a new facility to the North East, and we hope that we will be in a position in the near future to be able to compliment this development with a second new ice rink in the region for the people of County Durham.

The life of Ian Defty, whose life was tragically cut short earlier this year will be celebrated later this month in a 4-team tournament at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle.

Ian, who grew up as part of Durham Junior IHC and was a key member of the 1995/96 Durham City Wasps squad was a well known character in North East Ice Hockey and iced for a number of teams in his career including Newcastle, Hull, Whitley Bay, Guilford and Solway. A host of ex-team mates of Ian’s will battle it out for the inaugural Ian Defty Memorial Trophy with proceeds from the game placed in a trust for Ian’s young children Marcus and Niamh.

The teams will be led by former Wasps Shaun Johnson (Shuggy’s Shotguns ), Anthony Payne (Payney’s Pirates), Michael Tasker (Tasker’s Trashers) and Paddy O’Connor (Paddy’s Predators). Other players taking part include former Newcastle Vipers Scott Campbell, Mikko Koivunoro, Pasi Raitenen, Simon Leach, Karl Culley, Martin King, Anthony Johnson, Michael Bowman and Stephen Wallace. Former Durham Wasps players Ivor Bennett, Peter Herkes, Karl Walker, Andrew Carter and Malcolm Bell will also be icing on the night.

Doors open for the tournament at 6:15pm on Wednesday 27th August 2008, with the first game taking place at 7:00pm. A shirt-auction will take place after the games and an after party will take place at the Sports Café on Grainger Street in Newcastle’s City Centre for all players and fans. Tickets are priced at £5 for adults and £2.50 for under-12s, and are available now from four outlets:

1. Metro Radio Arena box office
2. Breakout ice hockey shop, Gilesgate Bank, Durham
3. Garden house Pub (opposite St. Leonards School, Durham
4. Stonebridge Pub, Langley Moor, Durham

Tickets are also available by post. Contact Gary Barr g.barr91@yahoo.co.uk
for details. All credit to Gaz for organising what’s set to be a great night in honour of ‘Reggie’.

The images below show how the “Sky Rink” could have looked. Due to a restrictive footprint, and the desire by the architects to maximise seating capacity within the space available, a distinctive design was drawn up with two tiers of seating down one length of the rink, two smaller tiers at the opposite side, and one stand of seating behind the goal, with room for standing at the other end.

ABOVE: Architects drawings showing each end of the building facing Stephenson Way and Beveridge Way, as well as a cross-section demonstrating the building’s tiered seating configuration.

ABOVE: A cross-section of the building which would have featured an international-sized ice pad

ABOVE: A view from the Beveridge Way corner of the building showing the spiral staircases leading to the upper-tiers of seating on the main stand

ABOVE: A view of the main seating area from the opposite side of the ice

ABOVE: Looking onto the ice from the lower tier

Despite the Feasibility Study coming out extremely favourably with regard to the proposed development, it was not to be, and at Christmas 2004, the site owners (Freshwater) pulled the plug on the plans.

The decision to terminate the project was blamed upon the site owners (Freshwater) unwillingness to commit funding to the project despite research by Adventure on Ice demonstrating that the scheme was feasible. The whole project, which would have included extensively refurbished retail units and a remodelled and improved entrance to the existing leisure centre was estimated to cost £7.2m

Phil Ball, Director of Leisure Services for Sedgefield Borough Council stated in The Northern Echo (31st March 2005) “We were very serious about the idea and disappointed it won’t be possible.”

A company spokesperson for Freshwater said “We are still working very closely with the council to plan the town centre’s redevelopment, in particular to create a greater amount of retail close to the leisure centre.”

In a nutshell - no ice rink. More shops.

And this team became the Wasps?
Pretty much yes. We were never an official team for a few years. It wasn’t until the second Durham rink was built - the one that everyone will be familiar with that the Wasps ‘proper’ came about. But it was a lot of the lads that started playing hockey back in those days that went on to form the first Wasps team, yes.

So the old rink - I hear it had poles in the middle of the ice. Is that true?
Absolutely! The old rink was made up of the ice pad and barriers which were circled by a tin sheet and spectators stood on a platform around the edge of the ice. There were four posts which ran down the middle of the ice and two posts at each end held the marquee roof up. Quite often, you’d turn up to skate and the roof had blown off! There was a young lad who worked in the skate-hire whose job it was to tighten the guy ropes whenever it got a bit blustery. Sometimes, when the rink was exposed to the elements and it was in winter, you’d have to shovel a couple of inches of snow off the ice pad before you could even skate on it!

Did the posts get in the way?
They did…. but more so for visiting hockey teams. The ones in middle of the ice were generally regarded as two extra defencemen as visiting players weren’t used to them being there! As well as that, with it being wartime, there were a number of times when they had to black the rink out whenever there was an air-raid warning, so you’d end up skating around in the pitch black, hoping you’d not collide with a post!

You sounded like a pretty hardy bunch!
Oh yes. Us skaters used to walk miles from the villages to get to the rink. And if we got the chance we’d try and find somewhere to kip in the City on a Saturday night, so we could get to the rink early on Sunday morning. One lad, Lance Ripley was a fire-warden at the time during the war, and they had a base in the old Methodist Hall at the top of North Road where we’d quite often stay overnight. We used to sleep anywhere just so that we could stay in Durham and be able to play hockey or skate the next morning! One of the lads we skated with was from Middleton in Teesdale… and he used to walk ten miles to get to a bus route which would take him to Durham - just to skate!

And then the you became the Durham Wasps?
Yes. I can’t remember why the name ‘Wasps’ came about. I think it was Icy Smith’s idea. Possibly because the first jerseys we had were striped, so we looked a little like Wasps. Ansyway, however it came about, it stuck. We played our opening game in the ‘new’ rink against Kirckaldy Flyers - It was quite a big thing in Durham when the new rink opened, I tell you!

Who won?
Flyers won, 5-4. I don’t recall who scored - it was a long time ago!

Who else did we play back then?
Well because Durham was a bit of a hockey out-post back then, we played the majority of our games at home, and teams used to come and visit us. Initially we played a lot of the Scottish League teams like Kirckaldy, Glasgow, Ayr, Paisley, Falkirk and what-have-you and also the Southern League clubs who had amateur teams like Nottingham, Wembley and Brighton. The problem was though, these so-called ‘amateur’ sides would generally sneak in some of there first-team lads, so us Wasps would end up lining up against some real top class players - the likes of Bobby Bauer, and Chick Zamick from Nottingham who was a superb player. But to be fair, we learnt a hell of a lot from them!

Who were the toughest opposition?
Hmmm…Falkirk Cubs were one team that we always seemed to have difficulty with. The trouble was, they were kids! Many of them no older than 14 or 15 years old. Well we didn’t dare body check them, so they used to run rings round us - and they were dirty beggars aswell! We always had a job on to beat them.

And at Durham - did the Wasps have any star players back in the 40s?
We did. A few of the Canadian airmen stayed on in Durham after the war and married local girls. Names like Earl Carlson and Gordie Belmore. Earl was easily the best player we had. Our job was to feed the puck to Carlson. Belmore was a good goalscorer aswell but Carlson was without doubt the star player. We were there to assist. Earl used to pick up the puck behind our goal… and the cheers used to start. They’d get louder and louder as he’d skate down the ice towards their goal with the puck. We were lucky to have them with the Wasps. There were some real hard men on the team too… Hughie McIntyre was one of them. He would rather skate through you than around you!

I suppose hockey kit wasn’t as fancy in those days then?
No!… no-one wore any head gear, except the goalie. Our shirts were actually knitted by the women who supported the team and were made of wool. When they used to turn the plant off to level the ice, there used to be half and inch of water or so on the surface… well if you fell down and got wet, those jerseys were like a lead weight! Our padding was made from inch-thick felt fastened together… the same thing the crowds used to sit on! The other teams used to turn up with all their proper gear, and we made our own! We managed to get hold of some sticks from the Canadian airmen when we formed the team, but after that we had to save up to buy new sticks and skates. Our families used to yell “Break your leg - but for God’s sake, not your stick!”

What’s the story with the Wasps ‘Strike’ that happened in the 1940s?
The whole strike thing was a bit silly really. We used to all congregate in a little pub at the bottom of Claypath called the Wheatsheaf and it all started off in there one evening. A couple of the lads who didn’t make it onto the team decided to stir things up a little bit and put out a rumour that some of the Canadian lads were being paid to play by the Smiths. Well, because we were amateur, that would have been terrible. We never really found out if it was true or not, and I was totally against the idea of a strike anyway, so two of us went back to skate. Eventually everyone else came back and it was all forgotten about. And old Icy would never have given in anyway!

Could it have potentially been the end of the Wasps though?
I wouldn’t have thought so. We all loved skating and playing hockey too much.

So there were some character associated with the team then?
Oh yes. The team doctor was one of them! Doctor George his name was. He was generally straight in there with a needle whenever he had a chance! I remember one occasion, when I had bad toothache before a game.I ’d got kitted up, but I didn’t feel too clever so I said “I don’t feel like going on”.
“Come with me” said the Doc. So he sat me in a car and drove me into the town, walked me along a narrow alleyway - in full kit mind you - up to a little dentists surgery They whipped my tooth out while I lay there in my hockey gear, and had me back on the ice before the first period was out!”

And Icy Smith - he was a bit of a character too, so I understand?
He was a good soul. Icy was certainly a character and he had his own ways. It didn’t pay to cross him but he was placated easily enough. His bark was worse than his bite - and I’ll tell you…he had a bark!

So were the Wasps popular in the 40s? What were the crowds like?
When the Wasps first started, there used to be crowds of around 2,000. Within a year or so that was up to 4,000. It was packed. The Railways even used to run a special ‘Hockey Train’ which picked up at all the villages around Durham to get people to the games…there was no advertising done, word just got around, and people flocked to it.

Wow. So it really took off then?
Oh yes. Durham people had never seen ice hockey before you see, so it was something different. Games used to take place regularly on Saturday and Wednesday nights. Sometimes, there were three games in a week. People used to follow us all over the place to see us play as well. Then more kids started learning to skate and to play, and that led to the Durham Hornets being formed.

When did you leave the Wasps?
I joined the RAF in 1949 and left the area. One of the Commanding Officers though had gotten wind that I’d played for the Wasps in Durham so he requested to speak to me, and asked if I’d like to be posted to a different station which was near Wembley. So I relocated there and played for the RAF for a while. It was great - we didn’t do anything but play hockey! I ended up coming back to play against Durham too - which was interesting!

Do you still skate?
No - I haven’t skated for years! The younger members of the family keep trying to get me back on the ice, but I’m not going back on again. I’m not as steady these days!

What were your thoughts when you heard the Durham Rink had closed?
I’m very surprised they allowed the rink to close. It was a really big part of Durham. People used to enjoy it immensly - it was a community. I think there’s a lot of kids missing out now there’s no longer a rink in Durham and that’s a sad thing.

Thanks Jim.
Best of luck.

Nick, how did you get interested in hockey and when did you start following the Wasps?
I’d seen the occasional highlights on TV and had heard of Durham being one of the top English teams, so I thought I would take the opportunity to experience ice hockey first hand whilst I was studying in the city. My first game was 14th October 1984 when I witnessed a 9-6 win against Fife Flyers – the game was so close and so well contested that I knew then that this would be the start of a love affair with the sport. About 6 weeks later I was one of the many fans that travelled down to Streatham to see (hanging off a stairwell ‘cos all the seats had been taken) the Wasps take on Fife Flyers in the Bluecol Cup Final – another close game resulting in a deserved win for the Wasps and the first piece of silverware in the modern era, if my memory serves me correctly.

What was the old Durham Rink like when you started watching hockey and did it improve much over the years?
Full of character! It appeared that very little had changed since the immediate post-war years and it was a very spartan place to go. Cold, hard, and very noisy. – not the fans, the building. There were some seats but I preferred the wooden boards behind the team benches. Over the years, little changed. An upstairs bar was added, I seem to remember, and there was a makeover when Cadbury’s sponsored the Wasps but that was about it.

I can still remember the overhead heaters being lit with a burning rag attached to a hockey-stick, the mist that came in from the river through the broken windows, a roof that leaked so that when you skated on a morning, you often had to avoid the pools of water on the ice, and the less said about the toilets the better! But in spite of its faults, it was an imposing arena, particularly when full, and there was nowhere I would rather have been on a Sunday night in the season.

What was your most unusual experience of the Durham Rink?
I remember my mate Paul and I learning to skate/play hockey and blasting a puck around half of the rink while a young lady pirouetted around the other half looking cheesed off. It turned out later that she was GB Olympic hopeful Joanne Conway!

Who were the outstanding players you remember from your time as a Wasps fan?
Off the top of my head, I think that Rick Brebant, Mike Blaisdell, Mario Belanger, and Kevin Conway must have been among the best imports to have pulled on a Wasps shirt. Mike O’Connor, Paul Tilley and Jamie Crapper were the imports when I first started watching, so I have particularly fond memories of them, too.

Of the British players, there were so many good homegrown young players who turned out for the Wasps – that was part of why we were so proud of the team. The Cooper brothers and the Johnson brothers stood out particularly, but there were so many others. I used to watch the Mosquitoes and Midges as well when I had the chance because you knew that the Wasps stars of tomorrow would probably come from these youngsters. Ivor Bennett was always a crowd pleaser, Paul Smith of course, Hutley, Tasker, Knights, Salem, Killen, the list goes on…

For the opposition, the Hand brothers from Murrayfield were always formidable (as was their mother), Dave Stoyanovich from Fife, Streatham’s Craig Melancon, former NHL-er and Dundee Rocket Garry Unger.

ABOVE: Kevin Conway at Wembley in 1897

We understand you made one epic journey in particular to see the Wasps in action…Tell us about that…
That was during my time year abroad (I was a languages student) which I spent in North Germany. Durham had won the league the season before and so had qualified for the European Cup, and they had been drawn against Yugoslavian side HC Jesenice. I thought that, seeing as I was in Europe anyhow, I would make the trip down to Jesenice (once I found out where it was!). I took the train down, stopped overnight in Munich where I took in a European Cup game between Bayern Munich and Austria Vienna in the OlympiaStadion, and then travelled on the next day into Yugoslavia via Austria and Switzerland. Looking back, perhaps I should have thought about purchasing a ticket beforehand but those thoughts hadn’t entered into my thinking. Anyway, I turned up at the rink a couple of hours before the game was due to start and sat outside enjoying the Autumnal sunshine. Shortly after, the Wasps coach drew up and the players appeared to be delighted to see me there welcoming them with my outstretched Wasps’ scarf. After a few handshakes, I was told to forget about getting a ticket, and that I should pick up a kitbag and just follow the players in. From that moment, I was treated as a member of the squad – all the team were so friendly, but I couldn’t help thinking whilst I sat there in the dressing room, ‘how am I going to find a good seat after this?’ I needn’t have worried – the Wasps invited me to sit on the team bench for the game, a never-to-be-forgotten experience and honour. We lost the match but afterwards the beer was flowing in the dressing room anyway.

The fun was still not over. The players wouldn’t hear of me going straight back to the station – not whilst there was still beer in the town. Instead, we all headed back to the hotel where there was a civic reception hosted by the Mayor (I think – this is where the alcohol starts to affect my memory). After that, it was all a bit of a blur – I think that a couple of players and myself found ourselves in a private bar at the top of the hotel, a couple of (mostly harmless) pranks got out of hand and we were advised to leave as the police had been called!

A few beers in the main bar followed at which point I had to leave, as I needed to catch the last overnight train out. That journey back was one of the worst of my life – sobering up in a second-class European train with no buffet car and just a packet of crisps or so to keep me going! But it had all been worth it.

During that year abroad, I followed German ice hockey (ECD Iserlohn - who are also now defunct) and became German correspondent for the Ice Hockey News Review.

What were your experiences of Wembley as a Durham supporter?
I remember the excitement starting the moment we booked the tickets. Then it was onto the coach on the Friday (the Finals initially were held on Saturday and Sunday, so it was a leisurely trip down to London). The fans and the Wasps stayed at the Post House Hotel near Heathrow, as did the Flyers fans, and there was a great rapport between the two sets of supporters, usually ending in a singsong around the piano in the bar.

Then it was off to Wembley and it is impossible to describe the buzz as we reached the stadium and saw all the other teams’ fans there, including supporters of teams who hadn’t even made it to the last four. Inside the arena the noise was deafening and was a riot of colour. The lights went down, the music got turned up a notch and suddenly out skated the lads to an unbelievable reception.

ABOVE: Durham celebrate at Wembley in 1988

The games themselves were usually edge of the seat stuff - definitely not for the faint-hearted. I remember us losing to unfancied Ayr in the semis in 1989 - that was about my lowest Wembley moment. The closest game was the 7-6 win in the Final against Nottingham, but the two games I recall the most were both Final wins, 9-5 against Murrayfield in 1987 and 8-5 against the Fife Flyers a year later. The win against Murrayfield was sweet because they were the favourites that year having won the league, and the Fife game was again a close-fought encounter which could have gone either way.

In all the Finals that we won, the Durham crowd started going nuts as the clock started ticking down the last minute - and the celebrations were something else when we won, with the team all diving on each other to celebrate and the fans all crowding towards the plexi to shout and cheer and generally let rip. This was followed by the presentations and then, finally, it sank in that this was the end of the hockey season. No more hockey till the end of the Summer. Unbelievable. Trips back to the North East always seemed a lot shorter after the Wembley victories!!

Now, you’re not strictly a “northerner” and definitely not a bona-fide “Mackem”, so why do you think you became so passionate about hockey Wearside Style?
That’s true – I’m a complete southerner who just got adopted by the hockey-mad fraternity that used to make up the Wasps fans. There really was a special atmosphere about the rink from the ordinary fans right through to the team and the management. My mate Paul and I got to know the ‘hard-core’ supporters when we started going on the away trips - it’s hard to remain anonymous when you’re sharing a bus for 5 or 6 hours each way, waiting in the cold and rain outside rinks that refuse to let you in until the official opening time, and getting back at 3 or 4am without having had a wink of sleep in case you end up on the receiving end of one of the player’s little ‘pranks’!

The people were, and are, very special. It was a club that prided itself on families and that was evident in the playing side as well. I guess I was lucky enough to be part of the ‘family’ for a few years and no other team will ever be able to come even close.

ABOVE: Wasps fans in full voice in the old “Clockend” stand

When did you move South, and how often did you manage to catch Wasps games after moving away from Durham?
As I was a student, I only was really up in Durham during term times anyway - so I missed some of the home games which was a real downer. However, one game which I didn’t miss and which does stick in my memory, though, was an away game at Billingham. The game was due to coincide with the start of the new term, so I suggested to my parents (who were by now also Wasps’ fans) that they could take me and my mate Paul to the game and then after that they could drop off us at the college. Fearing that it was a long way to go on the off-chance, particularly because it was a small rink, we decided to phone up and book tickets from the Billingham rink. The management were very friendly and when they found out that we were coming from Berkshire to see the game, they said that we weren’t to worry and they would sort us out tickets on arrival.

So, we turned up in deepest Billingham and presented ourselves at the ticket office, at which point an official was summoned. Talking mainly to my parents, he ushered them upstairs advising them that seats had been reserved for all of us. However, he then got a bit of a shock when he realised that Paul and I were fully decked out in our Wasps supporters’ gear. We understood his surprise and consternation when we realised that he was taking us up to the balcony (which stood at one end of the rink), which was reserved for officials and sponsors! Shameless as we were, Paul and I unfurled our large ‘DURHAM’ flag over the balcony which got a huge cheer from the Durham fans who were sat in the main part of the rink.

I graduated in 1987 and moved to London, so I didn’t get to see the Wasps as often as I would have liked. I usually managed to get to see them on the road at Peterborough, Nottingham, Solihull, Bracknell, Romford, Streatham and Basingstoke, and because my girlfriend Carolyn (or wife as she is now) was still studying in Durham after I left, I could combine trips to see her with visits to the rink. Luckily enough, she was mad about the Wasps too (even though she’s another southerner) - she was awestruck when I told her that her Wasps’ scarf had been sold to me by Anthony Johnson (who was working in a sports shop in the city at the time). Naturally, I also got to see them at Wembley, and at places like Altrincham and Solihull in their City Wasps’ days.

What was your reaction when you heard the Wasps had been sold and were to be relocated?
Disbelief. Revulsion. Physically sick. I just couldn’t believe that a famous club such as Durham, with all its history and its’ important place in the community could just be relocated like any other commodity. To me, it didn’t matter if the relocated team still had ‘Durham’ in its name, I knew that wouldn’t last and the last link with the past would soon be dispensed with. I was moved to write to the IHNR and plead with the BIHA to not let this happen, but in the end money talks. Similarly, I was also incredulous that the new owners were not happy with the City Wasps using the Durham name - even though they were playing in Durham!!! The whole sorry saga still rankles with me, even now after so many years have passed. I am sure that the Smiths had their reasons for selling up and somehow I can’t bring myself to think too badly of them as I knew all of them personally and they were always very friendly and welcoming. I just wish that another way could have been found.

And what did you make of the Durham City Wasps season?
I thought it was fantastic that the ‘real’ Wasps were reborn; sadly it was all too short-lived. Some fans may have drifted away because of the lower standard of play, others may have gone to watch the relocated ‘Wasps’ but there were still a huge number who were prepared to follow the City Wasps. Sadly, because the City Wasps played in the Northern Conference, I was unable to see as many games as I would have liked to - but I did manage to make it to Altrincham where we got beaten, and an unforgettable (for all the wrong reasons) trip to Solihull where the home crowd were not very welcoming, to put it mildly.

ABOVE: The Durham City Wasps team of 1995/96 - the last team to play out of the Riverside Rink

How important to you think the rink was to Durham and how much of a blow to the area do you think it was when it closed?
The rink and the club were hugely important to Durham. On Sunday nights, against the top teams, you would get 4,500+ supporters in (well in excess of the published rink capacity!). The Wasps and their junior teams gave the whole city a feeling of pride - there was a mayoral reception in the market place after one Wembley win - and the club really put the town on the map. All of us used to be amazed that a city the size of Durham could produce a team capable of being the best in Britain.

But it wasn’t only the hockey - the rink provided skating facilities for young figure skaters, and it was also a place where people could socialise and enjoy themselves (the Friday night disco skate had to be experienced to be believed).

You’ve been following CDIF’s campaign for a while now, how do you view the progress made so far, and do you think a rink will return again to Durham?
I was delighted when I found out that CDIF were campaigning for a new rink. I’m sure that there are still many people out there who are fervently hoping for the day that a new rink opens its doors, both old fans such as myself and a new generation of fans and skaters who may not have had the chance to experience hockey. Naturally, I would like progress to be quicker but I realise it’s not always possible when you’re trying to negotiate with various partners and when you’re not sitting on a pile of money! Nevertheless, I definitely think things are moving in the right direction and I’m very optimistic that a rink will return one day soon to Durham or the surrounding area.

Will you be back for the opening game?
Just try and stop me! I think that my whole family will want to be there - and not just for the opening game either!!!

Ian was also a key player in the history of the short-lived London Knights, and presided over the newly founded British Ice Hockey Players’ Association during the mid-1990s. Ian has since retired from ice hockey and now runs a successful property business in the altogether sunnier climate of southern Spain. Unable to stretch budgets to a flight to Malaga, we caught up with Ian via the magic of the internet…

Ian… what are your earliest memories of playing hockey at Durham?

My earliest memories are flying around the rink with a stick and a puck after a Wasps game, along with about 300 other kids, where undoubtedly mayhem and carnage would ensue! I began playing hockey when I was 7 and when I started playing, our team wore thick heavy long woolen jerseys and the age range was from 5 to 21!

What made you take-up hockey?

As a family we watched a testimonial game for Terry Matthews in Durham. It was so exciting to watch and the fans were fantastic too. It was a real family atmosphere as well.

You were well known as a Wasps player for hovering around the net and poaching cheeky goals…did you always want to be a forward and did you hover around the goal as a young-’un too?

Yes I always wanted to be a forward and no I didn’t hover around the goal. Me, Quacks and Tant (the Kid Line) dominated the play so much, the only time we stood still was to celebrate a goal!

What were your high-points of playing for the Wasps?

I have so many, but winning Young British Player of the Year and playing (and winning) at Wembley stick out the most.

…And what were the low points?

Freezing cold showers in that old rink.

Obviously when you and Stephen went to Cardiff, you both got a bit of stick from the Durham fans whenever playing the Wasps. Did you find this difficult?

Not difficult although it was emotional. I tried to turn it round to spur me on. No matter what the circumstances you have to play to your best ability.

What was the maddest / strangest / funniest thing you experienced while playing for Durham?

Probably Paul Tilley in Ayr faking a heart attack in the dressing room in order to remove himself from a very dirty, tough game!

Durham v Whitley - the fiercest rivalry in British Hockey or a hyped-up by the fans and the press?

Yes it was fierce, but it’s difficult to say if it was the fiercest because it’s relative to those involved. I did look forward to those games though!

Who is / was your most-admired former Wasp and who was your toughest opponent?

Most admired would be Ron Katerynuk or Rick Brebant. Rick was a bit of a controversial figure in British hockey for a long time, but love him or hate him he was such a professional and a real competitor. There have been quite a few tough opponents and I was always in the line of fire, but probably Mike Ware was the toughest/most dangerous!

Having played right through it, and into the SuperLeague, do you think the Heineken era really was the “golden age” of the modern game?

Definitely. The sport was more accessible and yet in my opinion, more professional at that time. The leagues were well organized and more entertaining, with a true promotion/relegation system. The championship finals weekend was unique and renowned in British sport. I think the fact that the sport had long-term sponsorship from Heineken and Norwich Union yet the Super League failed for so long in capturing any main endorsements whatsoever, speaks for itself.

What was your reaction to the news the Wasps had been “sold” to Newcastle United back in 1995?

Initially I thought it was good news and hoped it would push hockey in Britain forward, at least to a more competitive level in Europe, but it failed to have any impact at all. Sir John Hall didn’t get his way and the big Sky deals did not follow.

How important would you say the Wasps and the old rink were to Durham?

Very important. They were the only really successful sports team in the city and they put Durham on the map.

Your Dad obviously played a key part in trying to keep hockey going in Durham as manager of the City Wasps. What were your thoughts about that final season, and do you think hockey would still be going on in Durham had the rink stayed open?

Of course there would still be hockey if the rink had stayed open. I was very proud of my Dad for taking that on. He gave up his job to do it, so there was a risk involved. But I was also proud that something was being done to try and keep the Wasps in Durham going and I wish I could have been part of it.

North East ice hockey has suffered a lot in the past ten years. How do you see the region becoming a strong area for hockey once again?

First and foremost there has to be the right facilities available, not just to watch the sport but to give kids a chance to play and compete too.

What do you think a new rink could bring to Durham?

A huge amount of entertainment and enjoyment, which has not been replaced since the closure of the previous rink. It will also promote local pride and hopefully a successful sporting team.

And finally… when the new rink in Durham opens…. “Wasps” or a new name entirely?

The “Wasps” name is synonymous with the city. Durham is a famous historic city and Wasps are a team with a great history. Wasps, without a doubt.