The Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground

Photo by Pat Nicholls, November 2018

Croydon Road Recreation Ground, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3PR

Croydon Road Recreation Ground is situated in the London Borough of Bromley adjacent to Beckenham Hospital (The Beacon).

The park is one of the most popular facilities in the borough for outdoor events ranging from May Queen pageants and charity fetes to firework displays and funfairs. The recreation ground boasts scenic views with a bandstand, landscaped gardens, football pitches with changing accomodation, a childrens' paddling pool and enclosed play area, a cafe, tennis courts, and basketball/netball facilities. There is also a thriving bowls club with immaculate greens.

Entrances to the recreation ground can be found on Croydon Road and Village Way, Beckenham.

On-street parking is available in Croydon Road and Village Way and a multi-storey car park is available above Sainsbury's store close to the High Street.

The official opening/closing times can be found on our Facilities page

View a map of our location

You can join The Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground by following this link
You will receive newsletters about our events and updates about our fundraising efforts to restore the bandstand and paddling pool
and, if you want to do something practical, we are always looking for volunteers to help us with our events!
Our Annual General Meeting is held every November and, as a member, you will be able to vote at this meeting.

The Paddling Pool is now open for the summer months!

2019 Events in the Recreation Ground

Sunday 22nd September

Lewisham Concert Band at the Bandstand at 3pm. Free concert.

David Bowie's festival bandstand gets Grade II listing

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....

click to enlarge

Update on Lottery application for bandstand restoration works

Unfortunately we have been notified by The National Lottery Heritage Fund (formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund) that our recent application for the restoration of the bandstand at Croydon Road Recreation Ground has been unsuccessful.

Obviously this is a very disappointing news for all concerned. Despite giving it our very best efforts, unfortunately this is always the challenge with a competitive fund.

Going forwards, fundraising will continue, as the London Borough of Bromley seek to work with the Friends and other key partners to think about next steps etc.

We thank you for your continued and valued support whilst we do this, and will be in touch again in due course.

*SAVE THE BOWIE BANDSTAND & LEAVE A TRIBUTE MESSAGE*

The Beckenham Bandstand is now indelibly linked with David Bowie. He performed on it at the free festival, wrote a song about that festival which ended up on his Space Oddity album, and wrote Life on Mars? on the steps of this bandstand. However, the bandstand has unfortunately fallen into disrepair and now requires funds for restoration.

Following David’s incredibly sad passing, the bandstand is now a focal point for tributes. As David had always supported emerging artists, We believe that getting this bandstand repaired and ensuring its long term survival would be a suitable tribute. It would provide a platform for future generations of musicians to perform on and in doing so would allow audiences to continue to enjoy live music in the park. It’s also a unique Victorian bandstand, now the only one of its kind, so was already worthy of saving irrespective of the amazing cultural and musical legacy it carries.

The Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground are working in partnership with Bromley Council to fundraise for the bandstand restoration. You can support the restoration campaign by:

Making a direct donation on the London Borough of Bromley website to the bandstand restoration fund: www.bromley.gov.uk/bowiebandstand
For donations of ?15 or over, Zizzi’s have kindly offered to give donors 30 per cent off main meals on Mondays to Thursdays in their Beckenham branch. To claim this offer, supporters need to take a copy of the automated receipt they receive when making a donation.
Buying a personalised Bandstand Brick that will be installed on the circular path around the bandstand : www.bromley.gov.uk/bowiebandstand

Each brick will contain a maximum of 48 characters. Please be aware that the characters will be divided into three lines of maximum 16 characters each including spaces. You will be free to write your own message for the brick, however, you will only have 48 characters in total and if you wanted to put your name on the brick this would be included within the word count.

Once sufficient funds have been secured for the restoration project, we will contact you regarding details of your preferred personalised inscription.

Please also let us know if you would like to become a Friend of the park and join us with our on-going efforts to improve this local greenspace.

If enough people donate, even just ?1 each, we will hit our target! All donations are eligible to leave a tribute message which will be viewable when the tribute page is up.

Once the Bowie Bandstand is repaired there will be a celebratory opening party & surely many future festivals to look forward to. History will recall that it was Bowie’s fans both near and far who generously donated to get this unique Victorian bandstand restored to its former glory.

Thank you.

We have two current funding priorities in the Recreation Ground:

The Bandstand

The bandstand is significant not just for the elegance of the structure and its setting, but also because it has been the scene of many famous musical events. Perhaps most famous of all, in August 1969 David Bowie organised and played at the Beckenham Free Festival in the park, joined by a number of bands including the Strawbs. A link to the event is:

http://www.beckenhamhistory.co.uk/davidbowie-beckenham-free-festival

The bandstand was the product of McCallum & Hope Ltd of Glasgow from 1880 until 1921, an astonishing enterprise supplying all aspects of architectural ironwork. Many of the original designs of the foundry continue to be manufactured. A condition survey has revealed that the bandstand is in reasonable condition but in need of repair and replacement of certain elements, especially the canopy, which has later addition roofing felt in poor condition. The coronet is a mixture of cast and wrought iron and is extensively corroded and in need of conservation repair. Repairs to rotten roof timberwork, roof coverings and ironwork with consequent redecoration are therefore an urgent priority, and this is a key priority of The Friends in their fundraising objectives.

For the latest information about this project including the results of the recent structural survey, please see the dedicated project page of our site.

Please click here to pledge to the Bowie Bandstand Restoration Appeal

The Children's Paddling Pool

The pool is well past its designed life and badly needs rebuilding/replacement. This is the only local paddling pool in the district and is extremely popular in the summer months. It has continued to be repaired as necessary over the past few years, however the current facility is costly to maintain and has reached a point where ongoing maintenance of the deteriorating structure is becoming uneconomical.

A possible replacement design is shown below with new water features, plumbing and drainage and would obviously need to be funded.

Please help us to retain this very popular facility if you possibly can.

Design options incl. costs

..
click to enlarge

Please click here to donate to our Paddling Pool Replacement Fund via PayPal.

A BOOK ABOUT THE PARK

This book is available to purchase either on CD in PDF format from Pat's website
or in hardcopy format at ?8 per copy by e-mailing pickpatspage@googlemail.com

Please click on the cover above to visit Pat Manning's website for CD purchase details.

THE TREES AND SHRUBS OF CROYDON ROAD RECREATION GROUND

Mrs Pat Manning a respected local author and a member of the Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground has produced a booklet about the flowering trees and shrubs within its boundaries. The book was compiled for the Friends of the Recreation Ground in celebration of its 120 years existence in 2011. It is not generally available as hard copy but can be ordered on CD for use on a computer. It includes a taste of history, a month by month record of the most notable trees and shrubs through the year, all in full colour, three walks to identify the trees and shrubs with plans of the shrubberies and a Latin/common name index.

CONTACT US

You can e-mail us at friends@becrec.net

becrecfriends

@becrecfriends

and our mailing address is:
FoCRRG c/o 19 Clock House Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4JS