Palmers Green groups and creatives invited to help celebrate park bandstand's centenary

Community groups, youth organisations, event organisers and musicians are urged to submit ideas to deliver “landmark live performance programme” next year

Broomfield Park's bandstand — Broomfield Park’s bandstand

A community group is inviting local people to help celebrate a park bandstand’s centenary.

Friends of Broomfield Park (FoBP) in Palmers Green this week launched ‘Bandstand 100’, a community-led cultural initiative to mark 100 years of the park’s bandstand.

Local community groups, youth organisations, schools, aspiring event organisers and musicians are being urged to submit ideas to help co-deliver an “unforgettable landmark live performance programme”.

The timber-framed, mock-Tudor pavilion stands on the edge of the park’s southern lake. The bandstand officially opened in April 1927, becoming a vital civic hub by attracting audiences for concert parties, brass bands, dances and chess tournaments.

After surviving the scrap metal drives of the Second World War and hosting the 1953 Coronation Pageant, the structure fell into a long period of decline, narrowly escaping the wave of demolitions that claimed over half of Britain’s public bandstands.

The bandstand’s modern renaissance began in 2014 with the launch of the popular annual Broomfield Blues festival, delivered in partnership with St. Harmonica’s Blues Club. Following a recent structural restoration funded by Enfield Council’s ‘Pride of Enfield’ initiative, the bandstand is being prepared for its official centenary makeover.

Rather than hosting a brief commemorative event, FoBP is using the centenary to establish a “permanent, sustainable, community-led programme of performances”.

The Bandstand 100 project aims to transition the historic asset into an “accessible platform” which will “empower grassroots local groups to independently curate and manage their own outdoor entertainment”.

Alongside a centenary celebration, the project aims to actively build-in developmental support, mentoring, and administrative guidance for less experienced or first-time event organisers to remove barriers to the cultural sector.

FoBP is inviting all styles of music: classical to calypso, jazz, folk, funk and punk. Local performers, community groups, and cultural practitioners who wish to propose outline programming ideas are requested to complete a short digital expression of interest form available here.

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