ARTSPACE: AROUND THE BANDSTAND

Here are some evocative photographs of Barrow Park from the 60's provided by David Bury who grew up in Piel View House while his father William was Parks Director. David and his sister Lynda visited last week and gave a fascinating interview, talking about their life in the park, their Dad's duties, and Pets Corner. Our website and the video piece that accompanies it are almost complete. The site will include  the whole interview along with many others, and many more images. Look out for news of a screening.

I had a great sit down last week with Clarry Dunlop, Tenor Horn player with the Shipyard Band for many years, and his wife Doreen.   Here he tells of the extraordinary concentration of musicians living around Cedar Road, Ormsgill in the early 50's, and points out faces from this photo of the 1952 Shipyard Band.  https://soundcloud.com/art-space-756835798/clarry-dunlop-and-a-photo-of-the-shipyard-band I'm currently working on the sound for the Around The Bandstand Video, which uses some wonderful footage from the 60's for which I'm grateful to  filmmaker Brian Crawford.  There'll be more from Clarry there, and in the project archive.

Interviewee Jean McSorley has pointed us towards Barrow's excellent  Local Studies Library and some material on the 1924 Park Gala.    Archivist Sue Benson has provided these scans from the Gala programme.   This was a very big event. Organised as a fund raiser for the After -Care of the town's Tuberculosis Patients, it attracted huge crowds  and involved hundreds of people in games, sports, demonstrations etc all over the park. Here we see some  details from the Gala programme.    We have races, dancing and a fancy dress parade around the Bandstand, a Pillow fight competition, we have a fairground, we have a group of children's performers, and we also have a demonstration of Psycho-analysis.  The North West Daily Mail were there too, and thanks to Sue and co at the Local Studies Library we can add to our picture of the day by reading their detailed report of 2 days later, while the park grass was still flat from the 20,000 strong c

One from the 70's.... An episode from what Showman Gary Bridgens describes as his "Beano" childhood in and around Barrow Park.. https://soundcloud.com/art-space-756835798/gary-bridgens-for-blog

Campaigner, activist and writer Jean McSorley gave a fascinating interview in which she discussed the town's former clubs and societies in which  members combined leisure with education, skill development  and self-advancement. Jean places the Park alongside these, seeing it as a gift to anyone with an enquiring eye, as an example of a more generous and further-sighted vision than we might expect from Victorian industrialists, and as something to value and maintain. Jean's family have a tangible legacy in the Park, and you can hear her explain it in this short clip..with the park lawnmower buzzing in the background. https://soundcloud.com/art-space-756835798/jean-mcsorely-for-blog The postcard is another from Mike Burn's collection. Thank you Mike.