The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

Some time ago there was a thread on here about the Bandstand in Oak Hill Park. The bandstand was burnt down in suspicious circumstances a few years ago, and Hyndburn Council said they would claim on insurance and rebuild it, but for the last couple of years nothing happened. Last year, the (now ex) Chairman of the Friends of Oak Hill Park had suggested the bandstand should not be rebuilt because it would encourage vandalism. This provoked some debate locally, and a group of people (The Real Friends of Oak Hill Park) got together to oppose this. A petition with some 200 names was submitted to the Area Council meeting asking Hyndburn Borough Council to rebuild the bandstand, and at this meeting the chair asked for a vote - a significant majority voted in favour of rebuilding the bandstand, so the chair said that Area Council would ask the Council to get on and rebuild it.

Since then, The Friends of Oak Hill Park has got some new members (including the Real Friends), and look to be trying to be more positive about the park, and this particular individual is no longer the chairman.
The "new" Friends of Oak Hill Park and other community groups would like to see the bandstand rebuilt, and have had several consultations with councillors, but there is still no commitment to rebuild the bandstand, apparently none of them seem to know (or let on) what is going on.
So why, if the council is going to get an insurance payout, and last year they promised to fund any shortfall, and promised that building work would start in 2008, why has it not been started?

Is the council planning to take the money and renege on its promise? If so, where will the money go? Surely this should not be allowed to happen to an important public facility.

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

with you on that, feel the bandstand was n important part of oak hill, council should at least know what is happening, its long enough since it was destroyed, cash from insurance should NOT be used for anything only the insured item to me.:(

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

A public stage is proposed as part of the town centre redevelopment.
Maybe the council considers this as a fulfiment of the promise to restore that public amenity.

I consider this a more realistic option than an out of town restored victorian relic

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

oh well ya must want the all day concerts in the town centre then margaret? no thanks.:rolleyes:

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

Well the original was only used once a year anyway, and thats if the day wasnt rained off lol.

I used to love the bandstand, as a kid but got to admit, all i did was play on it. Maybe the money could be used on something that would be better used. OR rebuild the bandstand but actually ensure thats people get its benefit regularly instead of annually

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

wasn't used a great deal, but have seen brass bands n stuff on it occasionally, but my question is about the " money" fer the insured article, as far as i'm aware its supposed to repair/replace. agree ensure its used more.

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

We went up to Oak Hill park on Monday night after work for our lad to have a play. I must admit i havent been up there for years. I was quite disgusted to see the bandstand in such a state. Surely it should be knocked down for safetys sake. It must be a danger if kids get in around it.

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

If the bandstand is rebuilt im sure it would be used more often, I know that a couple of community groups have plans to organise more events incorporating the bandstand, the Hyndburn Mela and Community Festival organisers are also hoping to be back at the park next year. The festival was moved this year on the understanding that the works involved in the rebuilding of the bandstand would interfere with the event. Sadly all of these plans are on hold as no one (council included) seems to know what is going on.

The bandstand is part of the park and should rebuilt with the insurance money and the extra money promised by the council to make it more modern and more secure.

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

Unlike the rest of us it looks like H.B.C. don't have a 'new for old' policy, otherwise they'd have no choice but to rebuild the old bandstand.

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

As a member of the Mela and Community Festival committee, obviously we're very keen for the bandstand to be rebuilt. The bandstand was burned down about a week before the Mela two years ago. We very quickly hired a stage which cost about £3,000. We were told that we would be compensated for that - that hasn't materialised.

Every year this drags on this costs a further £3,000 to the committee which means that we have less to spend on the actual programming of music acts and activities. It takes out a considerable chunk of our budget.

Last year it was the weather that scuppered us with going to the park and we had about a week to transfer everything to the Sports Centre. This year we had intended to go back to the park but the parks department of HBC informed us that the building work would be being done at the time of the Mela and so would cause problems. Reluctantly we decided to go back to the Sports Centre.

If we had known that the work was not going to be done we would, of course, have gone back to the park this year. We would still have had to pay for a stage but clearly the park is a more suitable venue for the event.

So far, the Mela committee has spent £9,000+ on bandstand facilities. It is unlikely that we will be able to continue to hold the event if the bandstand isn't rebuilt.


I know that there are a lot of people who are saying 'why rebuild it when it's just for one event a year?' but it doesn't have to be for one event - other groups/organisations could use it. I feel that if the insurance money is available for replacing the bandstand then it should be replaced.

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

either that,or theres a fiddle going on rindy:eek: HBC never:D

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

[quote=Gayle;588181]
So far, the Mela committee has spent £9,000+ on bandstand facilities. It is unlikely that we will be able to continue to hold the event if the bandstand isn't rebuilt.


quote]

Don't you mean wasted £9,000 of public money on this annual nonsense?

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

[quote=Tealeaf;588184]Yes, you've put it so succinctly. It is a waste of public money to have to hire a stage when the insurance money could have rebuilt it and yes it is an annual nonsense to have to continually argue the case for the bandstand to be rebuilt. I never knew you felt so strongly about it Tealeaf!;)

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

So no more waste on no more mela! This is excellent news!

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

Again, quite right, in future the Mela committee won't have to WASTE any more money - we'll be able to spend it all on the things that matter! ;)

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

So instead of the mela, where is the money going to be spent?

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

What money? We haven't got any money, we have to keep spending it on hiring bandstands! You'd have to ask the lottery people where they want their money to go next year. We might see if we can organise a really loud, grunge and garage festival in Church! :)

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

Typical female logic: no money, but keep spending it anyway. Can any man on here please explain this?

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

Oh, ok, I'll give you a straight answer if I must!

Each year the Mela committee has to apply for funding (usually lottery or Arts Council which is lottery as well - so not really public purse). Each year we apply for the funding and then we only spend the amount we're allocated. A large chunk of that over the last three years has been for infrastructure with the stage hire.

These lottery organisations don't like wasting money and they see hiring the stage not as a waste as such but they'd prefer it if the money could be going back into the community to pay for the programming. But for the last three years we've had to use at least £3k out of the funding for the stage. I can't see them allowing this to continue. Also, if you want to get deeper into it, the Olympics have taken a huge amount of lottery funding so there will be smaller amounts of money to go around over the next few years.

What you always forget is that this money goes back into the local community - the stage hire company is local so it helps to support their business, the local bands get paid a small fee and get to showcase their acts, local caterers have the opportunity to have stalls, local community groups get stands to explain about their services.

Just because you don't like it, and you clearly don't, doesn't mean that other people don't like it - we get in the region of 5,000 people coming to these festivals.

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

it wouldnt surprise me at all

a public stage is a few quid spent on a bit of scaffold

if the insurance paid out for a band stand then a band stand should be built in my opinion and that park deserves to be kept and could look so much better with a few quid spent on it

i would rather see a replica bandstand that looks pleasant than a few planks and scaffold slung together

as for town center development the council cant get past broadway , for the past 10 years they have been digging broadway up and still cant get it right and must have thrown millions away in the process :rolleyes:

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

I've been told that to replace the bandstand could cost in the region of £130k to £180k which baffles me a bit as that's the cost of building a fair sized house.

I don't think they'd be able to use the bandstand money in the town centre as it was insurance money for rebuilding the one in the park.

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

Just a little bit more than that a few quid. Then again I suppose what you class as a few quid.

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

Urbed .. the Planning Consultants for the Masterplan did actually acknowledge the work these students did and used some of their ideas.

I'm with everybody else though .. the bandstand should once again rise from the ashes.

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

According to the Friends of Oak Hill Park the Bandstand will be rebuilt.

The news comes following the local area council meeting last week and the added pressure from community groups and people of the town. The plans for the bandstand are to be presented by the council at the next Friends of Oak Hill Park meeting.

The meeting is on Wed 18th June, 7.30pm @ Christ Church, everyone being welcome!

The decision by the council to rebuild the bandstand has been made and forgotten about before. Until it is actually completed it can never be definite, however this is a positive step in the right direction.

Re: The Bandstand at Oak Hill Park
 

I liked some of the more imaginative ones which would have given the town a real boost. It's like that Nelson Square thing. They just seem to opt for the least imaginative and/or most boring. We always seem to be trailing behind as a poor imitation of other towns. Why can't we be the trend setters and really go for it?


So they could presumably still forget that they intend to rebuild it. :rolleyes: