Dancing the light fandango ….. by a Spanish bandstand

And the title says the lot.

The purists will point that it is highly unlikely that anyone would be dancing a fandango by a bandstand.

After all as my Wikipedia tell me a “fandango is a lively partner dance originating in Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, tambourine or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced”.*

And that very likely would knock over a few of the chairs around the bandstand and upset Mrs. Trellis of Cleckheaton. 

But as the dance  originated in Portugal and Spain and today’s bandstand image is from Tenerife, there is a sort of logic to the title and Tony’s picture.

According to one source on public parks, the bandstand owed much to the 19th century’s fascination with the Orient.  The basic design may have been copied from “the raised –platform kiosks seen in Turkey and across the Ottoman empire” but was overlaid with influences from Indian palaces and temples.**

The French had shown one of these Turkish stands off at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1855 and what followed was a succession of developments over here with the first unveiled at the Royal Horticultural Show in South Kensington and later moved out to parks in Southwark and Peckham where I came across them as a young boy in the 1950s.

And almost 70 years after I encountered my first bandstand Tony Goulding came across this one in Tenerife, and knowing my fascination for them took time out from his holiday to snap front and back.

‘Nuff said

Pictures, 2024, from the collection of Tony Goulding

*Bandstands, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Bandstands

**A Walk in the Park, Travis Elborough 2016, pages 155-56

Of bandstands, demolished churches and a closed pub, Plumstead Common in 1915

Now every good park should have a bandstand.

They were after all the centre of many parks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries which reflected both civic pride and that long history of listening to music in the open air.

I remember the one in Telegraph Hill Park which by the time I knew it had become a sad and forlorn thing.

It had long ago lost its cast iron pillars and roof and was pretty much just an abandoned lump which you past on the way through the park to school.

Now I have discovered an old post card of the bandstand and I think at some stage I will write about it.

But in the meantime I have fastened on another which stood on Plumstead Common.

It must be a full thirty years since I was last there and of course back then I wasn’t looking out for bandstands.

As I remember we called in at the pub on the edge of the Common.

All of which is a lead in to the picture which dates from around 1915, and shows the band stand, and St Margaret’s which was completed in 1859 and lasted just over a century and a bit. It closed in 1968 and was demolished in 1974.

I rather think the bandstand might also have gone and according to one of my sister the pub has also shut up shop.

Well that as they say is how things changes.

Picture; courtesy of Kristina Bedford.

Ms Bedford’s book on Woolwich Through Time is published by Amberley 

Bandstands are not just for summer ......

I have always had a fascination for bandstands.

1906

It stems from walking past the one in Pepys park every school day from 1962 till 64, and quite a few play days before that.*

By then it had lost its ornate iron pillars and roof and was just a brick stump.

But it has been restored and now sits in my bandstand collection.

Tony Goulding knows this and so last week sent over a picture of the one at Clacton-on-Sea, adding “Hi, Andrew, Here is a postcard for your bandstand collection - Clacton-on-Sea”.

And as you do I went looking for its history and found a delightful report on the place.*

So that is it.  Other than to record that Tony tells me  "that the card was postmarked  6-30 pm February 8th 1906.

Location; Clacton-on-Sea

Picture; Bandstand and marine Parade, Clacton-on-Sea, 1906, from the collection of Tony Goulding

*Pepy’s Park, Telegraph Hill Park, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraph_Hill,_Lewisham

**Clacton Seafront Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan, chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.tendringdc.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/planning/heritage%2C%20conservation%20%26%20trees/Clacton%20Seafront%20CAAMP%20FINAL.pdf

That mystery in Fog Lane Park, …..

Now as bandstands go the one in Fog Lane Park was not the most attractive examples of a civic bandstand.

The former bandstand, 2020

I grew up with those elaborate iron ones which adorned the parks in my bit of south east London, and have since started collecting them.*

In that pre television, pre cinema and pre wireless age bandstands offered a place to meet, sit and enjoy live music, although by the 1950s when I was growing up they had become less popular.

And many were already sad looking rusty old affairs, which would soon be swept away.  Ours lost its fine iron pillars and decorative bits
 followed by the demolition of the brick platform.

The bandstand in 1962

So  complete was elimination of these bandstands that within a generation their very existence would be all but forgotten.

So, when Barbarella out on a Sunday walk she happened on the circle in Fogg Lane Park,and was mystified, and I have to say so was I.

I toyed with the idea of a former bowling green, but dismissed it for obvious reasons, and speculated that it might have been the site of a pond.

But, rather than stay with speculation I looked up the OS map for 1959, which clearly shows a bandstand at the Parkville Road entrance.

And quick as a flash found a 1962 picture of the bandstand.

The bandstand in 1959

I don’t know when it was built, but the park dates from 1926, and I guess that it was erected around that time or a little later.

Its design resembles the open-air theatre in Chorlton Park which was laid out in 1928.

Which just leaves me to thank Barbarella, and scoop up a description of the park from Didsbury Civic Society.

"Fog Lane Park is off Fog Lane. Didsbury.  It was purchased in 1926 by the Council and was one of first public parks in Manchester.

It is said that Fog Lane Park earned its name from a grass, commonly known as 'Yorkshire Fog' which still grows throughout the park.

The site is comprised mainly of grassland and woodland, but also contains two small lakes, shrub beds, scattered trees, rose gardens and a sensory garden and children's play areas. 

The park is particularly suited to football, having several pitches and a large grassed area.

Welcome to the park, 2020

Fog Lane has an area dedicated to the growth of wildflowers. 

These attract wildlife such as butterflies, dragonflies and a large selection of insects.  In turn, these provide food for a wide variety of birds which visit the park and are then encouraged to nest.  

These include mallards, moorhens, Canada geese, kestrels, wood pigeons, coots and the occasional heron, plus the latest additions - ring-necked parakeets.

 The park has a variety of trees and shrubs, including dawn redwood, silver birch, laburnums and flowering crabs, as well as a number of unusual specimens which have reached maturity, including hornbeams, alders, poplars, Norway maple and Indian bean.

 The park is mainly used for children’s recreation, dog walking, personal fitness including organised health walking, Saturday and Sunday league football and for educational purposes, by school groups, church groups and scout/brownie groups.

 Fog Lane Park Bowling Club and the Friends of Fog Lane Park actively work with Manchester Leisure to improve and promote the site.”**

Location; Fog Lane Park

Pictures; Fog Lane Park, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento, Bandstand, Fog Lane Park,1962, m58046, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, and Fog lane Park, 1959, from the OS Map of Manchester & Salford, 1959

*The Bandstand,  https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Bandstands

***More on Fog Lane Park, Didsbury Civic Society, https://www.didsburycivicsociety.org/fog-lane-park

Bandstands ............... nu 3...... North Lodge Park Darlington

Now this bandstand is one I like. 

It is in North Park Lodge in Darlington, has its own facebook page and last year was damaged by a group of mindless vandals. *

Happily, bandstands are making a comeback, although it was a close-run thing for many.

Anyone old enough to remember municipal bandstands in their heyday will have watched their slow decline.

It was a combination of things from that war time push to recycle old iron which robbed the stands of their ornate pillars and roof, to successive budget cuts and finally that simple fact that they fell out of fashion.

So, when I was growing up our band stand which had long ago had become just a brick and stand was just somewhere that on rainy days you played.

No one sat in deck chairs enjoying a selection of music as the sun was reflected on the shiny brass instruments and park authorities looked upon them as old unfashionable blots on the landscape.

According to one new book on public parks, the bandstand owed much to the 19th century’s fascination with the Orient.  The basic design may have been copied from “the raised –platform kiosks seen in Turkey and across the Ottoman empire” but was overlaid with influences from Indian palaces and temples. **

The French had shown one of these Turkish stands off at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1855 and what followed was a succession of developments over here with the first unveiled at the Royal Horticultural Show in South Kensington and later moved out to parks in Southwark and Peckham where I came across them as a young boy in the 1950s.

All of which leaves me to thank Yvonne Richardson who allowed me to share this one of her bandstands.

Location; North Lodge Park Darlington

Picture; the bandstand, North Lodge Park Darlington, from the collection of Yvonne Richardson

 *North Lodge Park bandstand in Darlington vandalised, The Northern Echo, September 12 2018 https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/16836344.north-lodge-park-bandstand-in-darlington-vandalised/

**A Walk in the Park, Travis Elborough 2016, pages 155-56

Bandstands ............... nu 2 back in Victoria Park in Swinton

Now I grew up with bandstands.

Almost any park worthy of the title public park had one.

But sadly by the time I was allowed to go off and play on my own all of the bandstands I can remember had become sorry looking things.

The ornate iron pillars had long gone, and no one came to listen to the bands who long ago had packed up their instruments and moved on.

So in celebration of all that was and has returned, here is the promised series on bandstands.

It started with a photograph from Antony and continues with a painting by Peter of the one in Victoria Park.*

It was built around 1897 when the park was laid out it embodies all that civic pride which said there was more to life than work, mean streets, and dark horizons.

According to one new book on public parks, the bandstand owed much to the 19th century’s fascination with the Orient.  The basic design may have been copied from “the raised –platform kiosks seen in Turkey and across the Ottoman empire” but was overlaid with influences from Indian palaces and temples.**

The French had shown one of these Turkish stands off at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1855 and what followed was a succession of developments over here with the first unveiled at the Royal Horticultural Show in South Kensington and later moved out to parks in Southwark and Peckham where I came across them as a young boy in the 1950s.

Location; Swinton

Painting; the bandstand in Victoria Park, Swinton, © 2016 Peter Topping
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

*Antony Mills gave me permission to use his photograph earlier in the month

**A Walk in the Park, Travis Elborough 2016, pages 155-56

Bandstands ........... Nu 1 Victoria Park Swinton, 1897

Now anyone old enough to remember municipal bandstands in their hey day will have watched their slow decline.

It was a combination of things from that war time push to recycle old iron which robbed the stands of their ornate pillars and roof, to successive budget cuts and finally that simple fact that they fell out of fashion.

So when I was growing up our band stand which had long ago had become just a brick stand was just somewhere that on rainy days you played.

No one sat in deck chairs enjoying a selection of music as the sun was reflected on the shiny brass instruments and park authorities looked upon them as old unfashionable blots on the landscape.

But not so Victoria Park.  Here as Antony’s photograph reveals is a fine example of what many of us will remember.

Built around 1897 when the park was laid out it embodies all that civic pride which said there was more to life than work, mean streets, and dark horizons.

According to one new book on public parks, the bandstand owed much to the 19th century’s fascination with the Orient.  The basic design may have been copied from “the raised –platform kiosks seen in Turkey and across the Ottoman empire” but was overlaid with influences from Indian palaces and temples.*

The French had shown one of these Turkish stands off at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1855 and what followed was a succession of developments over here with the first unveiled at the Royal Horticultural

Show in South Kensington and later moved out to parks in Southwark and Peckham where I came across them as a young boy in the 1950s.

All of which leaves me to thank Anthony for the picture and renew my acquaintance with Victoria Park which was made up of the grounds of Swinton Old Hall and opened for business in 1897.

And of course will be the start of a new series on Bandstands.

Location; Swinton

Picture; the bandstand Victoria Park, 2016, from the collection of Antony Mills.

*A Walk in the Park, Travis Elborough 2016, pages 155-56

Bandstands ...... nu 5 .....Victoria Park ......Denton

 Now anyone old enough to remember municipal bandstands in their hey day will have watched their slow decline.

It was a combination of things from that war time push to recycle old iron which robbed the stands of their ornate pillars and roof, to successive budget cuts and finally that simple fact that they fell out of fashion.

So when I was growing up our band stand which had long ago had become just a brick stand was just somewhere that on rainy days you played.

No one sat in deck chairs enjoying a selection of music as the sun was reflected on the shiny brass instruments and park authorities looked upon them as old unfashionable blots on the landscape.

And this one comes courtesy of Christopher Roman, and it is the one in Victoria Park in Denton.

"Denton has recently had the Grade II listed Edwardian bandstand restored to former glory, after suffering from missing iron work, rotting wood and need of a re-roof. This has been achieved through receiving a substantial grant form the Heritage Lottery Fund and Tameside MBC's Preservation of Historic Buildings Fund.

The restoration took 3 months to be completed by Dorothea Restorations Ltd, with a celebratory event taking place on 16th June 2007, 12-4pm, with the official opening, Denton Brass Band, Musical Youth and entertainment for all the family".*

Location; Denton

Picture; Bandstand, Victoria Park, Denton,courtesy of Christopher Roman

*Victoria Park, Denton, https://www.tameside.gov.uk/parks/victoriapark

 

Bandstands ……no.5 Jubilee Gardens ……..Middleton

Now it’s been a while since a bandstand featured on the blog, which is a shame given that they are one of those wonderful inventions.

They owed much to the 19th century’s fascination with the Orient. 

The basic design may have been copied from “the raised –platform kiosks seen in Turkey and across the Ottoman empire” but was overlaid with influences from Indian palaces and temples.*

The French had shown one of these Turkish stands off at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1855 and what followed was a succession of developments over here with the first unveiled at the Royal Horticultural Show in South Kensington and later moved out to parks in Southwark and Peckham where I came across them as a young boy in the 1950s.

By then many were in a state of disrepair, victims of years of neglect and changing fashions.

But not so any more.

Location; Middleton

Picture; the bandstand Jubilee Gardens, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson.

*A Walk in the Park, Travis Elborough 2016, pages 155-56

An apology to the Friends of Maryon Park ……….

Now despite growing up in Eltham, with Woolwich, Plumstead and Charlton just a bus ride away, I never visited Maryon Park.

And if I am totally honest I didn’t even know it existed, until I came across this picture postcard of the park.

I don’t have a date for the picture, and despite wandering up and down the surrounding streets using google street maps, I haven’t worked out the location from which the picture was taken. …But someone will and that is the fun of the blog.

In the meantime I shall fall back outrageously and lift a description of the park from Wikipedia, which quite correctly I credit.

“Charlton sandpits, which were originally part of an area known as Hanging Wood, were presented to the London County Council in 1891 by the Maryon-Wilson family, and one of the pits became Maryon Park. 

 

Another pit became Charlton Athletic's football ground, The Valley.

The park was originally wooded and, together with what is now Maryon Wilson Park, was known as Hanging Woods. 

This was a wild wooded area and formed an ideal retreat for highwaymen who robbed travellers on Shooters Hill and Blackheath. 

Though it is popularly supposed that the wood was used for hanging those who were caught, a more likely explanation for the name is the wood's location on steep slopes so that the trees appear to hang from the slope. 

Such woods are often referred to as 'hanging woods', the word 'hang' comes from the Old English 'hangra', a wooded slope.*

I could quote more but that would be stealing, so instead I will just include the link and point you towards another excellent site for information on the park, which comes from Charlton Parks Reminiscence Project which focuses on Charlton’s, “six distinctly different parks and open spaces, [which are] at the heart of their different neighbourhoods. This project looks at the history of each park, how they developed and stories relating their importance to local people over the past 100 years”.**

And I might well get more information about the bandstand which features in the picture.

As many will know, I am fascinated by bandstands and collect them.  It all began with the one I passed on my way to school in Pepys Park back in the 1960s,and I never miss an opportunity to seek one out.

So, if the bandstand is still there I hope someone will take a picture of it and send it across.

Location; Charlton

Picture; Maryon Park, Charlton, date unknown from the collection of Kristina Bedford

*Maryon Park, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryon_Park

** Maryon Park Charlton Parks Reminiscence Project, https://www.charltonparks.co.uk/the-parks/maryon-wilson-park/

The Deal Bandstand and memorial

Now I bet I am not the only one to associate bandstands with the 19th century, and that explosion of civic pride that saw the creation of municipal parks which came with carefully laid out flowerbeds, water features and of course a bandstand.

And when our Liz and Colin sent over some pictures of Deal I fell on their bandstand image.

What surprised me is that it dates only from 1989 and was erected in memory of eleven members of the Band of the Royal Marines School of Music who were killed at 8.25 am on Friday September 2nd 1989 by an IRA bomb.

The names of the eleven servicemen will be found on special plaques mounted on the bandstand itself”.*








Location; Deal

Picture, The Deal Memorial Bandstand, 2019, from the collection of Elizabeth and Colin Fitzpatrick

* The Deal Memorial Bandstand, Information Board

Bandstands and wizards ........... and the headless one in Sale

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

Waiting for the band to play ..... Middleton

Now it's been a year since I visited the story of the bandstand, and so I was pleased when Tony Goulding sent this one over.

Tony is a regular contributor to the blog and tells me "I have been busily engaged in researching a friend's (rather complicated) family history. 

In connection with this we took a trip today out to Middleton. 

I took a newish digital camera with me and took a few pictures, one of which was of this bandstand which stands in the grounds surrounding St. Leonard's church. 

I seem to recall that you have an interest in surviving bandstands so I thought I would send you this picture"

And that is all I am going to say, other than to thank Tony and invite you to read all the bandstand stories.

Location; Middleton

Picture; Middleton Bandstand, 2021, from the collection of Tony Goulding.

*Bandstands, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Bandstands

Another Salford Bandstand

Now I don't know the story of the bandstand in Parr Fold Park. but I am pretty sure someone will.



And so having been sent these pictures by Antony I will await developments.

Location; Salford

Picture; the bandstand Parr Fold Park, 2016, from the collection of Antony Mills.