Brass found for park's bandstand to be rebuilt

The Heritage Lottery Fund has given a 165,000 grant which will largely fund a project to recreate the bandstand as it originally appeared when Beaumont Park, the first public park in Huddersfield, was opened in 1883.

It will be built on the original stone base which was uncovered under shrubbery in 2000.

Fiona Spiers, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: "Beaumont Park has a rich and varied history and its links to brass band heritage are well known to the local community."

Over the past seven years, Beaumont Park, the only venue in Yorkshire taking part in the national Bandstand Marathon, has regularly had brass band concerts hosted by the Friends group.

As only the concrete base of the bandstand remains, the volunteers put up cover for the performers and carried a heavy generator and hi-fi equipment to the site for each event.

The project, which will cost 200,000, is being carried out in partnership between Kirklees Council, which owns the park, in Lockwood, and the Friends of Beaumont Park volunteer group.

The recreated bandstand, which has been designed by council landscape architects from photographs of the original structure, will provide performers with cover and the facilities needed to stage musical events.

On Sunday, 2pm to 4.45pm, the park will host the Bandstand Marathon, a national event which will see around 70 concerts taking place at the same time throughout the country.

The event had been advertised previously as taking place in Greenhead Park, but due to the works currently under way at the park, it is now taking place in Beaumont Park.