Bandstands return after £800m lotto grant

East Park in Wolverhampton, Walsall Arboretum, Dartmouth Park in West Bromwich and Lightwood's House, Bearwood, have all benefited from Heritage Lottery Fund money to restore and rebuild bandstands.

Once upon a time there were 1,200 bandstands across British parks, but numbers have dwindled to fewer than 500, with some scrapped as part of the war effort, while others fell into disrepair before being knocked down following a spiralling decline in the 1980s and 1990s.

It is hoped that the restoration of the bandstands will help parks hold on to a traditional feature, as well as provide them with a venue to hold music and theatre performances. In total, 110 in the UK have been saved by the funding.

Drew Bennellick, head of landscape and natural heritage at the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: "Bandstands are the archetypal feature everyone associates with the great British park. They often act as the fulcrum of the park, the centre of its formal design, a focus around which people gravitate and the place where the park is brought to life with music or outdoor theatre.

"However, as expensive to maintain, ornate structures, bandstands have suffered disproportionately from neglect and ever-tightening maintenance budgets.

"Thanks to National Lottery players, around 110 historic bandstands now have a more certain future and have become the focus of activities arranged by park managers, friends and local community groups."

East Park bandstand dates from 1896, and came from the pioneering foundry of Walter Macfarlane and Co, Glasgow, who shipped bandstands all over the world.

The bandstand was in shoddy condition before it was restored by Lost Art in 2014

The Walsall Arboretum bandstand dates from 1924, but fell into disrepair. It is now bringing the open space to life with music and theatrical performances, including concerts by brass bands and rock music from tribute acts such as Fred Zeppelin.

The bandstand was added to Dartmouth Park in West Bromwich in 1933, after the park was originally opened in 1878. After the Expressway was built in 1973, the park became less used and slumped into a serious decline. But a £6.4m injection in 2008, which also included the renovation of the bandstand, saw a reopening in 2014 when work was close to completion, and it has been a popular venue ever since.

The £5.2m restoration of Lightwood's House and Park, which features a prominent bandstand, was put on hold earlier this year after Fairhurst Ward Abbots, the company doing the work, went bust.

The house and park was built by Jonathan Grundy in 1780. The restoration project was confirmed in 2010 and was expected to be completed in August of this year. Parks were becoming increasingly popular places for workers in the 18th and 19th centuries to spend their time and bandstands were provided with music to ease their woes.

The stands were primarily populated by brass or military bands, with over 40,000 brass bands in existence towards the end of the 19th century.

But popularity waned in the 1950s as other attractions like the cinema, radio and TV took over.

There was a brief revival in the late 60s when groups such as Pink Floyd, The Who and Fleetwood Mac played a series of free bandstand concerts, and David Bowie also played a free concert in 1969 in London.