Welcome to AROUND THE BANDSTAND

Introducing the Artspace Heritage project, Around The Bandstand, in which with the support of the Heritage Lottery Foundation we look at Barrow Park, the Bandstand and at their place in the social life of the town.

This is our first Heritage project. You may have seen or been involved with our schools arts projects. These are always to do with the history, geography or some other aspect of our locale; we've worked with several schools in Barrow and South Cumbria, and we currently have 3 artists working in and round the Sir John Barrow Cottage in Ulverston. 

Around The Bandstand involves Artspace and Bram Longstaffe Nursery, but mainly it's to do with the people who have used the park over the years, whether for entertainment, as a playground, a courting spot or a place to find some space and quiet.

Councillor Helen Wall helped get things rolling with her Barrow's Beautiful Places event at Forum 28 in Barrow. We met some lovely people, including many old friends, and not only publicised the project but found a lot of people who were happy to talk to us. On the right is Jac Drake from Bram Longstaffe  at our table, explaining the project. 

We've been very grateful for the support of Marie Richards  from the Borough Council Parks and Recreation department  (below, right). 


Thanks to Marie and the Park staff  we've been meeting people in the Mawson Room in the Park Pavilion and visiting people in their homes to record conversations and collect photographs and memories. 
We are slowly building an archive of recorded anecdotes and pictures. These not only create clear images of past days in the park, but also place such days in a wider context, revealing a little about the lesser-told histories of Barrow In Furness, and about the things it's people do for each other to keep the place going.


We've got some great material so far, and we thought it would be nice to share some tasters here in advance....
on the next few pages you'll find a bit about what we've been up to, with regular-ish updates to follow.


If you would like to join in and tell us your stories you can 
contact us here or on messenger, or by email  at 
artspacearoundthebandstand@gmail.com
Keep an eye out for events here and in the Mail, 
see you later. 
John