When I joined the Lib Dem Voice editing team, I knew I would have to edit and write about a huge range of politics, skulduggery, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Never once, not even in my dreams, or even nightmares, did I think I would write about a bandstand.
Or for that matter a bandstand put up on ebay for sale by Lib Dems. Here is the billing:
Now this bandstand has history. It’s is fair to say that Bracknell is not the most vibrant or attractive of town centres. But the bandstand has long been a icon in this pretty featureless townscape.
The town centre needs regenerating and the bandstand is being swept away as part of a new development. The Reading press suggests that the Lib Dems have no right to sell this iconic structure but surely it’s better to reuse it than scrap it? And if they raise a few pounds in these cash strapped times, what’s wrong with that?
The bandstand is going for more than fifty-five pounds at the moment. We have lots here in Ludlow, but not a bandstand. Now if only I could play a note on a trombone, I’d have a whip round to ship it up here to Shropshire and put it in the car park.
Update
Shortly after publication of this article, the bids for bandstand zoomed to £1,070.
14 October
The Reading press reports:
Bracknell Liberal Democrats have abandoned a plan to sell the town’s doomed Bandstand. Ray Earwicker of Bracknell Liberal Democrats, said:
We felt we had a deal with the town council that has sadly changed. Whether they were leant on I don’t know, but it’s disappointing we can’t continue. The Bandstand is a hugely emotive issue and we were trying to do our bit for charity, while stopping it from simply being knocked down, and it’s a shame we can’t do that. The town council has been left with egg on its face, but that’s politics in Bracknell for you.
* Andy Boddington is a Lib Dem councillor in Shropshire. He blogs at andybodders.co.uk.
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7 Comments
Cambridge needs a bandstand. I’ve been emailing city councillors about this recently. The way that some towns and cities in this country “support” the performing arts is, quite frankly, insulting.
What passes for a bandstand in Cambridge (yes, Cambridge, of all places) is the back wall of a stinky, dilapidated toilet pavillion, complete with graffiti. There is no flat surface for musicians to perform on if there are more than four or five of them. If they need power they have to trail a cable through an open door in the pavillion and suffer the nasty smells.
This is on Jesus Green in Cambridge. A city of intellect and culture and a city with lots of tourism. No, it hasn’t even got a proper bandstand. Even Ely, which is a fraction of the size, has a bandstand in its Jubilee Gardens, complete with an adjacent electrical cabinet to provide power for performers.
Its now at more than £150,000 – jumping in the course of three hours on Friday night from £1,000 to £150,000, not sure how many of these are serious bids
Good luck for this publicity stunt but I fear that this move is in danger of just bringing ridicule on Bracknell and Berkshire Lib Dems
Does that include delivery?
Nobody can doubt that our putting the Bracknell Bandstand for sale on eBay has caused a tremendous amount of public interest in the fate of the Bandstand, which is due for demolition very soon. So far there have been nearly 7,000 viewings of our eBay listing, which has resulted in the eBay price going from 99p to over £150,000 in about a day. Although most of these bids are probably from people having fun, our purpose for putting the bandstand on eBay is deadly serious; we are hoping to find someone who will be able take the bandstand away and use it intact so as to retain a well know part of Bracknell’s history. We would urge anyone who would be able to use the bandstand and who has money to move it to get in touch so that we can start to look into this. Our email address is [email protected]
Update on the Bracknell Bandstand:
Anyone who uses social media in Bracknell would probably not have missed us trying to find a buyer for the Bracknell Bandstand on eBay at the end of last week. The bidding had reached over £151,000 * and there were nearly 10,000 viewings of the listing, showing tremendous interest in the fate of the Bandstand. News reports went far and wide, including Northern Ireland. The Bandstand is due for demolition very shortly because of the redevelopment of Bracknell Town centre by the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership (BRP).
The Bandstand has divided opinion and there are plenty of people who will be glad that it will be erased from existence forever, including most of the local Conservative and Labour councillors who voted together to demolish it. We kept an open mind and discovered that many people value the Bandstand as a centre point and a unique feature of the town and consider it part of our heritage. The Bracknell Lib Dems ran a campaign to save the bandstand during the summer and our petition received hundreds of signatories. Our opinion poll showed that about two thirds of people support saving it in some way or other. Our original idea was to move the Bandstand to a park elsewhere in the Bracknell Forest area but none of the Tory controlled local councils want the Bandstand and they effectively support its demolition. Our latest idea of trying to find someone to take it away intact is the only hope left for the Bandstand, if that fails the Bandstand will be demolished very soon. You can see the rest of our statement on our website: http://bracknelllibdems.org.uk/en/article/2013/736680/statement-by-the-bracknell-lib-dems-on-ebay-sale-of-the-bracknell-bandstand
Sophie, there is nothing “ridiculous” in saving a bandstand. Clearly you didn’t read my earlier posting on this subject, lamenting Cambridge’s lack of a bandstand. If you think it’s good that civic authorities don’t provide any sort of decent performance area or focal point either in open spaces or town squares, you present a very bleak and ignorant cultural outlook. I could tell you more stories about Cambridge’s dreadful attitude towards the performing arts – it doesn’t just stop at the lack of a bandstand.