Geograph - photograph every grid square

The Clapham Common Bandstand is the largest bandstand in Greater London and one of the oldest surviving. Indeed it is one of the largest ever built in England. In 1889 local residents petitioned the London County Council for a bandstand. The LCC was encouraging music in parks and readily agreed to the Clapham petition, allowing a budget of £600. In 1861, the Royal Horticultural Society had opened new gardens in South Kensington and these gardens had two large bandstands. When the gardens closed, the bandstands were bought by the LCC which re-erected them in Southwark Park and Peckham Rye Park. The contractor who was moving them suggested that a copy might be made for Clapham Common. The replica, slightly modified for reasons of cost, was delivered for £598 in 1890, but the similarity with the one in Southwark Park can be seen at Link. By the start of the 21st century, the Clapham Common Bandstand was in a sorry state but at a total cost of £1.3 million has been restored to its former glory. The concert here on Sunday 2nd October 2011 was to celebrate the final stage of the restoration. The South London Jazz Orchestra were playing in the record temperatures at the start of that October.