Rocking Horse Rehearsal Rooms

New location found for Rocking Horse!

After over a year of searching we’ve finally found our new premises….. and we’re moving to Coxhoe.

The new Rocking Horse is going to be bigger and better, we think it will be a real asset for the Village.

Whilst this means we will no longer be based in Durham City, we’re hoping to bring all of you along with us.

Our bands come from all over the North East and Coxhoe is perfectly situated, being just off the A1 at Bowburn.

We have until the end of November to vacate our Durham City site and we’re hoping to have a few rooms open for bookings before then.

While it’s great that we have a place to go to, we’re still facing the huge cost of rebuilding.

With this in mind, we’ve set up a Crowdfunder page for anyone who wishes help us buy materials for the new studios. There’s rewards for donors including tickets to our opening event and entry to prize draws for studio time. Here’s a link if you wish to donate:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-rocking-horse-rehearsal-rooms-durham

Work has already started on the new site, but it’s going to be tough to get it all done in time. We’re having to do the work ourselves and we’re critically short of people.

We’re looking for help with building the soundproof rooms, so we’ve started a facebook group for volunteers. Here’s the link if you want to get involved.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2301390636719124

Thank you so much for you support through this difficult time, if all goes to plan, we can continue to nurture and develop grass-roots music in County Durham.

Christmas and New Year Holidays

This Christmas and new year we’ll be closed:

22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 31st of December.

1st and 2nd of January.

Happy Christmas and New Year to all.

Decision date announced for planning application.

I’ve been informed that the planning committee will be deciding on the the application to demolish our building at 9:30am on Tuesday, the 13th of December.  I’m hoping to speak to the committee with my objections, using this petition and the comments people have kindly offered as evidence of our importance to the community.  If anyone wants to support us on the day, or in the days leading up to the decision, get in touch and we’ll see if we can make a fuss, I’ll bring our lovely banner along. Thanks to all of you for your support over the last year or so, your concern for Rocking Horse has been an inspiration during difficult times. Hopefully this is the beginning of a new adventure, rather than an ending.

Thankyou,

Rich.

Save Rocking Horse, sign the petition

The landlord has decided that they want to knock us down, but we think Rocking Horse is too important to the music scene in Durham, sign our petition. #saverockinghorse

https://chng.it/qgFGQPZP

Lockdown 2

We’re closed until the 3rd of December for the national lockdown, but we’re taking bookings for after that (unless the circumstances change and the govt. decide to extend). See you on the other side.

Rocking Horse returns!

We’re taking bookings now for full band rehearsals from July the 6th onwards. The rooms are currently open to individuals and duos(in the large rooms only to maintain distance) on a strictly contactless basis. We’ve used the downtime give the place a big overhaul, including a newly installed ventilation system, covered outdoor area(so you don’t need to wait in the corridors) and automatic light switches in corridors and the toilet. Every room in the building has been given a fresh coat of paint and we’ve deep cleaned all the equipment and carpets. We will provide anti-bacterial wipes and hand sanitiser in every room and all rented equipment will be cleaned after use. We also have disposable covers for our mics(bring your own if you can). We are recommending that bands of more than 3 book either rooms 3 or 4 to ensure sufficient social distance while rehearsing. Please bear with us while we try to adapt to these extraordinary circumstances, we’re looking forward to seeing you all again.

Christmas and New Year opening.

  • 24th Dec – Closed
  • 25th Dec – Closed
  • 26th Dec – Closed
  • 27 – 30th Dec – Open
  • 31st Dec – Closed
  • 1st Jan – Closed
  • 2nd Jan – Open

New Art!

Come and see our new artwork round the back of Rocking Horse , big thanks to our friend Tom Rowan for making the place look smashing!

Also look out for some of his work inside the building, in room 4 and the loo.

Room 5 coming soon!

Work is well under way in the conversion of the old office into room 5, we expect to be taking bookings by the end of May, watch this space…