Durham ice rink mural plan to rediscover lost history

BBC News

18-04-2025

A long-demolished ice rink, once home to one of the UKs most successful hockey teams, could be commemorated with a mural.Artist Lewis Hobson has been rediscovering the history of Durham Ice Rink, which closed in 1996, ahead of creating an artwork for the city.The site on The Sands, where the passport office is now located, was home to the Durham Wasps and the centre of a thriving community hub. Mr Hobson, from Durham, has been collecting artefacts and memorabilia which are being exhibited along with an example mural celebrating the old rink.
The artist said he grew up with stories about the importance of the rink and was inspired to find out what its closure meant to people in the city."I was really interested in what this loss means for the community and what has replaced it, if anything has replaced it," he said.For over a year he has been collecting stories about the site and different objects marking people's experiences there.Among the accumulated memorabilia are knitted gloves, jumpers, hand-made banners and a handkerchief with the names of Wasps players from the 1950s.The memories and artefacts will inspire a final mural planned for later this year, with a documentary also under way.
The ice rink opened in 1940, the vision of local ice seller John 'Icy' Smith.World War Two brought Canadian pilots to the area, including a handful of National Hockey League professionals, and they formed a services hockey league."This is what really kick started ice hockey in Durham," Mr Hobson, 31, said.The Wasps were founded by an Canadian airman, Michael Davey, and local men in 1946, but it was in the late 1980s and early 1990s that they became hugely successful. "They were like the Manchester United of British Ice Hockey at the time," the Durham artist said."But the rink closed and we haven't had a replacement, so the history was lost."
The end of ice hockey in Durham came when the Wasps were bought by the then Newcastle United Sir John Hall, in 1995, who wanted to move the team north. "This meant the team and the community were split. Half went to Newcastle and half stayed in Durham," Mr Hobson said.The rink was closed in 1996 and the building demolished in 2013.
Mr Hobson has painted an artwork inside the Place Lab pop-up at the Prince Bishops shopping centre and is consulting with the community to find the "perfect" final design."Because so many people visited the ice rink and so many people really loved it and miss it, my hope is that someone who has a really nice wall also wants a mural," Mr Hobson said.Meanwhile his exhibition, called Blank Slate, runs until 27 April and also shines a light on Durham's ice skating and street skating cultures.Alison Clark, head of culture, sport and tourism at Durham County Council, said the local authority was "in discussion" with Lewis about creating the mural.It is hoped the artwork will be painted in the city centre by the end of the year."This history is really important," Mr Hobson said."A mural is the final thing to say this history has been rediscovered."
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