A PARK’S bandstand could be revamped as part of a £200,000 plan.
Friends of Beaumont Park are looking for funding to improve the bandstand, seating and paths.
The group and the council have already been awarded £19,100 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop the plan.
They hope a further application for £180,500 will provide the remaining costs for the project, which also includes a recorded history of the 35 brass bands within a five-mile radius of the park.
The memories would feature on boards at the bandstand, on leaflets and on the Friends of Beaumont Park’s website.
The friends group is already recording memories of older people in Huddersfield who remember the days when the park hosted musical events, before the bandstand was brought down in the 1950s.
Kirklees Council’s Cabinet was updated on the plan yesterday.
Cabinet member Clr Molly Walton is also a member of the Friends of Beaumont Park.
The Labour councillor for Crosland Moor and Netherton said: “This is rather more than just the bandstand, it’s a history project as well, looking at the way that music has played a part in the life of the park in past years.
“Because it’s a listed park, the new bandstand will have to meet all the heritage requirements as well.”
Fellow Cabinet member Clr David Sheard also supports the plan.
The Heckmondwike Labour councillor said: “When we put the bandstand in at Heckmondwike it greatly improved the use of the park.”
Beaumont Park once boasted two timber bandstands, but now only the stone base of one of them remains.
The new bandstand would be metal to help it withstand vandalism, but will be built in the Victorian style.
If work is funded and goes ahead on schedule, the new bandstand will open in mid-2011.
The Friends are rejuvenating the Victorian park, which was created by Lord Henry Beaumont in 1883.
The park, which borders Lockwood and Netherton, originally featured caverns, waterfalls and hillside paths.
However it fell into disrepair. The Friends were formed in 1998 to restore the park to its former glory.
Kirklees Council and the National Lottery have helped to pay for restoration work at the site, which is now Grade II listed.
Last April the park’s lower gates were officially reopened after a £46,000 restoration.
