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In praise of … Britain's bandstands In praise of … Britain's bandstands
(7 days later)
The glory of many a British town was its public park, and the glory of the park was its bandstand, most of all when in melodious use on a Sunday. But many fell into disuse: some when their gleaming metal was requisitioned in wartime, some when councils found the cost of maintaining them unsupportable, while others were ruined by vandalism and neglect. Alternative Sunday attractions, once banned, now competed: the cinema, shopping, and sport. Yet bandstands are on their way back, a process begun with lottery money. On Sunday, a concert takes place in a park in Beckenham to raise money to refurbish a bandstand on which the young David Bowie played in the 60s. He has sent effects to be auctioned. But the resurrection will not be complete until, with a hundred Beckenhamians dozing deep in their deckchairs, a local brass band can be heard in a rendering of the Poet and Peasant overture by Von Suppé.The glory of many a British town was its public park, and the glory of the park was its bandstand, most of all when in melodious use on a Sunday. But many fell into disuse: some when their gleaming metal was requisitioned in wartime, some when councils found the cost of maintaining them unsupportable, while others were ruined by vandalism and neglect. Alternative Sunday attractions, once banned, now competed: the cinema, shopping, and sport. Yet bandstands are on their way back, a process begun with lottery money. On Sunday, a concert takes place in a park in Beckenham to raise money to refurbish a bandstand on which the young David Bowie played in the 60s. He has sent effects to be auctioned. But the resurrection will not be complete until, with a hundred Beckenhamians dozing deep in their deckchairs, a local brass band can be heard in a rendering of the Poet and Peasant overture by Von Suppé.
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