Rewind to glory days with bandstand plans for Sandwell parks

The scheme will see new installations at Dartmouth Park in West Bromwich and Victoria Park in Tipton.

The council has begun the search for a supplier to recreate the Victorian bandstand that once stood in Dartmouth Park and may use a similar design in Victoria Park, Tipton.

The exact cost of the scheme is not yet known, but the hunt has been kicked off by the authority via networking website Find It In Sandwell.

If the idea is made into reality, it will tie in with the ongoing multi-million pound transformation of Dartmouth Park.

Friends of Dartmouth Park group secretary Carol Hartill said: "We're absolutely thrilled about this. We don't know how much it will cost yet.

"There was once a Victorian bandstand there and later one in an Art Deco style style but we're hoping the Victorian style can be used again."

The scheme is aimed at transforming popular community attractions back to former glories and improve the borough-wide offer on parks.

Council leader Councillor Darren Cooper highlighted there were already seven parks across the borough with Green Flag status.

He said: "Whenever I tall the council's frontline services this is kind of thing I mean - leisure facilities, green parks and open spaces.

"In my view a park needs to have a bandstand. In the summer when I was a child we used to go and sit in the park and listen to lots of bands, brass bands and little orchestras, and we would have some fantastic events.

"We're trying to get rid of any dilapidated or scruffy features in our parks and invest in good parks and green spaces for the community to enjoy."

A £6.3 million restoration scheme is already in full flow after a year of rapid improvements in the Grade II listed Dartmouth Park.

The latest to be unveiled are viewing platforms around the upper pool, installed to help give people and young children a safe place to watch nature's displays. They will also give disabled people better access and will link together with a ramp to be opened down in the park's lower pool area.

It is all part of the second phase of restoration work which will cost in the region of £1.7 million.

Members of the Friends of Dartmouth Park have already spoken of their joy at seeing the latest element of the scheme in place.

An improved car park has been created off Reform Street and boundary walls and fencing have been updated as well.

Mrs Hartill said the park was finally feeling better linked with the town centre itself after it was cut adrift with the building of the Expressway.

Dozens of new trees will be planted in the park over the coming 12 months as part of the next stage of the works.