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NEWS

Council to discuss Bowie Bandstand restoration report


(See Architectural Proposal link below to view the document)

The London Borough of Bromley Environment and Community Services Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee will be discussing the Bowie Bandstand Restoration Architectural Proposals report during a meeting which will take place on the 21st March 2022 at 7.00pm at Bromley Civic Centre. Anyone can attend.

After passing through this committee it will then go to the Executive Committee on the 31st March 2022 at 7.00pm at Bromley Civic Centre.

The links below provide the information being discussed:

Restoration Committee Report

Bandstand Architectural Proposal - Draft

Paddling Pool status update

Programme Timetable for Bandstand Restoration work

Gate Lodge and adjacent Gateway to Croydon Road Recreation Ground
Awarded Listed Building Status

David Bowie's festival bandstand gets Grade II listing (August 2019)

Events in the Recreation Ground

Paddling Pool status update

Children's Paddling Pool

Paddling Pool status - The Paddling Pool is now OPEN and will remain so through the Summer

Bowie Bandstand, Croydon Road Recreation Ground
Indicative timetable
August 2021

The table below shows the indicative timetable for the delivery of the bandstand refurbishment, restoration and repair works project:

Action

Timetable
Complete brief for Conservation Consultant and associated preparation of tender documentation September 2021
Tender for Conservation Consultant who will survey the bandstand, development proposals and oversee delivery of the agreed works September/October

Tender evaluation and clarification, including LBB process to enable contract award

October/November
Introduction of Conservation Consultant to the project, including their attendance at Friends AGM November
Conservation Consultant proposals delivery (including any specialist surveys and condition assessment), stakeholder consultation, planning application and Listed Building Consent preparation and works tender documentation preparation December – April 2022
Finalisation of works tender and issue to specialist iron work contractors April
Apply for Listed Building Consent, part of planning process April
Tender evaluation and clarification including LBB process to enable contract award for repair works May/June
Mobilisation period for specialist contractor July
Works start (4-6 months). To include on-site and off-site foundry work September – March 2023
Works complete and unveiling event April 2023

For more details about the bandstand refurbishment, restoration and repair works project, follow the link to the Bandstand Project page

Gate Lodge and adjacent Gateway to Croydon Road Recreation Ground
Awarded Listed Building Status


The building was added to the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest in June 2021. The building is now listed at Grade II.

HISTORIC ENGLAND HAS STATED THE FOLLOWING REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION

The gate lodge and gateway to Croydon Road Recreation Ground, Beckenham, built in 1890 to 1891, are recommended for listing at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

A late Victorian gate lodge forming a strong architectural composition alongside the gateway at the entrance to the park, including wooden verandas, a circular bay window for the supervision of the park covered by an elegant ogee dome, and a pyramidal roof rising to a tall central chimney stack;

The lodge survives relatively well and compares favourably to listed lodges of the period.

Historic interest:

For the historic association with the wider expansion of the public park movement in the late 19th century, following the Public Health Act (1875), when parks developed in suburbs and small towns for recreation and as an expression of civic pride.

Group value:

As a component of a fine late Victorian and Edwardian ensemble alongside the Grade II-listed (2019) Bowie Bandstand (1905), which is also associated with the 1969 Summer Growth Festival and David Bowie’s rise to fame after performing in the park, adjacent to housing of the same period.

David Bowie's festival bandstand gets Grade II listing
(August 2019)

Singer performed to audience of few hundred at Beckenham landmark in summer of 1969

The Beckenham bandstand, known to fans as the Bowie bandstand was used for singer’s 1969 summer festival
Photograph: Historic England/Chris Redgrave/PA

Fifty years after a young David Bowie performed from a south London bandstand in front of a tiny crowd at a summer festival he organised, the historic iron structure that served as his modest stage has been Grade II-listed.

Known to fans as the "Bowie bandstand", and thought to be the only surviving example from the Glasgow-based McCallum and Hope iron foundry in the UK, it was the centrepiece of the Growth summer festival, held by Bowie and friends on 16 August 1969 in Beckenham.

London Borough of Bromley press article

More.... and More....

2022 Events in the Recreation Ground

Saturday 13th August 2022


Tickets: www.wegottickets.com/event/547443

Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th September 2022

Previous events in the Recreation Ground


Beckenham Concert Band on the Bowie Bandstand, June 2022


Beckenham Concert Band, June 2022


A special mention and thanks to Ray Stevenson for kindly allowing us to use his image of David Bowie for this year’s event.
(click image for larger version)

? The Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground 2008 -