I grew up during the decline of the bandstand.
Once they were the pride and joy of any respectable park, and a venue to listen to live music and meet your friends.
But in the years after the last world war, they became less popular, and this coincided with a lack of interest by cash strapped Councils in maintaining their parks.
Out went the carefully tended floral displays, and the stunning flower beds, along with the resident park keepers who were part policemen, part friend, and who always kept an eye on the safety of unattended children.
And a creeping policy of low maintenance gardening and longer periods between cutting grass, and following up on essential repairs, made some of our parks less than safe places.
All of which condemned the bandstand to a lingering death.
First, went the delicate and intricate iron work which not only supported the roof but gave a sense of Edwardian elegance to the structure.
In the absence of regular painting, the iron rusted, looked unsightly and eventually became a safety hazard.
The logical next step, given that the bands no longer played, and the stand was just a brick plinth, which kids might fall off, was to demolish them.
I suppose they didn’t really fit that image of a new Britain where everyone sat on the grass listening to their transistor radios and chose to go off on Sunday’s for a drive into the countryside or even to the coast.
Some like the one in Fog Lane have vanished completely. Some have been restored and others like the one that stood in Longford Park have been transported off to museums and cultural theme parks.
A few survived, minus their iron work and can still be seen which is where h Andy Robertson came across this one in Sale, yesterday.
But not content with just a bandstand he conjured up a a wizard for good measure.
He christened it the “headless bandstand" but added “a wizard for good measure”.
And you can’t say fairer than that.
I shall add it to my growing collection of bandstands from around the world with a little bit of bandstand history.
Location; Worthington Park, Sale
Pictures; the bandstand and the wizard, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson
*Bandstands, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=bandstands&max-results=20&by-date=true
But in the years after the last world war, they became less popular, and this coincided with a lack of interest by cash strapped Councils in maintaining their parks.
Out went the carefully tended floral displays, and the stunning flower beds, along with the resident park keepers who were part policemen, part friend, and who always kept an eye on the safety of unattended children.
And a creeping policy of low maintenance gardening and longer periods between cutting grass, and following up on essential repairs, made some of our parks less than safe places.
All of which condemned the bandstand to a lingering death.
In the absence of regular painting, the iron rusted, looked unsightly and eventually became a safety hazard.
The logical next step, given that the bands no longer played, and the stand was just a brick plinth, which kids might fall off, was to demolish them.
I suppose they didn’t really fit that image of a new Britain where everyone sat on the grass listening to their transistor radios and chose to go off on Sunday’s for a drive into the countryside or even to the coast.
Some like the one in Fog Lane have vanished completely. Some have been restored and others like the one that stood in Longford Park have been transported off to museums and cultural theme parks.
A few survived, minus their iron work and can still be seen which is where h Andy Robertson came across this one in Sale, yesterday.
But not content with just a bandstand he conjured up a a wizard for good measure.
He christened it the “headless bandstand" but added “a wizard for good measure”.
And you can’t say fairer than that.
I shall add it to my growing collection of bandstands from around the world with a little bit of bandstand history.
Location; Worthington Park, Sale
Pictures; the bandstand and the wizard, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson
*Bandstands, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=bandstands&max-results=20&by-date=true
Generations of kids have played different versions of 'one kick' football in this bandstand. I played here many times in the nineteen sixties. I don't know when the roof was removed but I only remember it the way it is now without one.
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