The Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground

London Borough of Bromley publish
Bandstand Restoration Post Completion Review Report
please visit the Project page to access the report.

Visit our Facebook Page for all the latest Friends' news!

Paddling Pool status update

Summer Events in the Rec.

Paddling Pool Renovation Project - Council Update

Future of the Paddling Pool - Fundraiser

Christmas Lights Switch-on 2025

Fundraising stall at We Are Family Festival

Another Bench Action Day!

The state of the park's toilets

Paddling Pool status update

TEMPORARILY CLOSED

We regret to inform you that the difficult decision has been made to temporarily close the paddling pool at Croydon Road Recreation Ground.
This follows health and safety concerns, which were picked up during a recent site inspection.
Idverde are currently seeking specialist advice on the required repairs and will reviewing the next steps with the Council.
In the meantime, the pool will remain empty to prevent use.

We apologise for any inconvenience as a result of the closure.

For any enquiries please contact idverde who maintain the park:-
email: enquiriesbromley@idverde.co.uk phone: 01689 862815

Summer 2026 events coming up in the Recreation Ground...

see the Events Page for more information

Spring into Summer
with the Sonnet Wind Orchestra

Sunday 31st May 2026

2.00pm to 4.30pm

(click to enlarge)

"Rehearsals in The Rec"

by Beckenham Concert Band
in or adjacent to the Bowie Bandstand

Sunday 21st June 2026

2.30pm to 4.30pm

(click picture to enlarge)

Saturday 22nd August 2026 from Noon to 8pm
(Note: provisional date)

A funding launchpad with music craft beers and events in aid of the new splashpool
(More information later!)

SoulTown 2026

Saturday 5th September 2026

(click image to enlarge)

Council Update April 2026

...

Please use the QR code to donate or click the picture to visit the 'Just Giving' page.

Christmas Lights Switch-on 2025

We were delighted to be at the Beckenham Christmas Lights switch-on, with The Friends running a stall for the Paddling Pool Fundraising Project.
There were cupcakes and cookies for sale, a plushie tombola, lolly game, and gingerbread decorating.
£540 was raised for the Paddling Pool project - a fantastic total!
We’re grateful to everyone for their ongoing support. If you’d like to make a donation we have a dedicated fundraising page here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/paddlingpoolbecrec

We had a fundraising stall at We Are Family Festival in September

Thanks to all that visited the Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground stall at the We Are Family Festival.
By playing one of our games and winning one of the kindly donated prizes, you raised £583.
All cash and card payments have been added to the Just Giving page.
Please do keep supporting us as every donation helps us get the splash park built quicker.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/paddlingpoolbecrec

Another Bench Action Day!

We arranged another BENCH ACTION DAY in August 2025.
It was great to see volunteers in the Rec. giving the most needy benches some TLC.
Idverde supplied the equipment and we provided the elbow grease.

Another longer term improvement for the park will be refurbishment of the paddling pool, for which we have already started fundraising. LBB are also planning to refurbish the smaller gazebo/shelter in the park this year, should the external funding prove forthcoming.

The state of the park's toilets

The Friends are increasingly concerned about the state of the park’s toilets, following several recent complaints. idverde ground staff are contracted by Bromley Council to clean and re-stock the toilets every morning when the toilets are unlocked; the Service level Agreement is once a day.

The toilets have deteriorated recently and have experienced vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The state of the toilets has led to the ward Councillor escalating the situation with the Portfolio Holder for parks at Bromley Council.
idverde's Grounds Maintenance Manager has now ordered a deep clean from their sub-contractor to help address the situation.

Due to these problems, the idverde team has committed to monitoring the toilets at various times during the day and cleaning and restocking them as necessary. Time sheets have now been placed in the toilet for the operative to sign on each visit and a supervisor will visit periodically to assess the condition and request a clean, if necessary. The team will inform management immediately if there are any signs of anti-social behaviour and record any damage to the toilet block so that this can be reported to Bromley Council, for repairs to be initiated.

We would encourage all Friends to report issues with the toilets direct to the council. The more we report it the more pressure we put on Bromley Council to address the issues . Please report all issues with the toilets (and any other matters in the park) here:
https://fix.bromley.gov.uk/around?js=1&zoom=3&lat=51.40378&lon=-0.03297

Longer term we are campaigning for a full refurbishment of the toilet block to coincide with the bandstand renovation and we would welcome support from all Friends to pressure Bromley Council to provide funding to support this.

If any Friends are interested in volunteering to help with repainting and refreshing the toilets in a community day partnership with IdVerde and Bromley Council please email John Backway, Membership Secretary at jmbackway@yahoo.co.uk. All materials will be provided and no toilet cleaning would be expected !