|
 The
idea of a Bandstand, or more formally a 'Community Performance
Platform', arose when Mrs Ruth Mitchell approached WDDT and asked
whether she could donate some money towards a project in memory of her
late son Mark Northover, who was a well known figure in Wareham on his
mobility scooter. We'd known for some time that the Town Band
and others had encountered problems when playing at popular events on
The Quay. If they played on The Quay itself then they took up a fair
amount of space, but if they went across the river to the southern
bank there was nowhere convenient to stand. We came up with idea of
creating a suitable area on the southern bank.
There
was lots of support from other people. The Priory Hotel, which owns
the land, gave its enthusiastic support to the project. Andrews Plant
Hire lent excavators and dumper trucks to move soil and materials, and
Lovell’s Quarry provided the Purbeck Stone paving at cost. Local
council waste contractor SITA generously provided a substantial grant
towards the cost of the work, through the
SITA Trust's
Enhancing Communities programme. (click
here to
learn more about this).
Volunteers did most of the hard work. We had a formal opening ceremony
for both this area and the Meadow, on Saturday 6th May 2006. Mrs
Mitchell did us the honour of cutting the ribbon.
Some people have pointed out that in
heavy rain the area can become flooded, and they've asked why we
didn't raise the paved area. This would also have made any performers
more visible. It's a very good point. Unfortunately The Environment
Agency (which controls the river bank) insisted that the paving be
kept at the original ground level, so there was nothing we could do.
It's
not just for the Town Band. Other voluntary/charity groups can use
the area on request – there’s no fee, but WDDT will be operating a
booking system to avoid clashes.
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Marking out the Bandstand area
Trustee Colin supervises the work
Paving the bandstand
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