WORK on a new “old” bandstand for Beaumont Park in Huddersfield is progressing well.

And officials hope the replica structure, currently being constructed in Wigan, can be used for summer concerts.

It is hoped that the bandstand will be ready to go into the park around the end of April.

It is a replica of the one from a century ago and will be erected on the original stone base which was uncovered under a shrubbery in 2000.

Engineers are painstakingly copying features that were part of the park’s original bandstand when the park opened to the public in 1883.

Recreating the original bandstand is part of a £200,000 project to get the park resounding to the sound of music once more.

The project, which has received funding of £190,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, is being carried out in partnership between Kirklees Council, which owns the park, and the Friends of Beaumont Park volunteer group.

It aims to reinstate part of the Victorian architecture and a focal point in the Grade II listed park, which was the first public park in Huddersfield, as well as boosting efforts to restore the musical heritage of the park.

Draft designs for the new bandstand were done by council architects from photographs of the original structure. The winning contractor for the project has subsequently been working up those designs in order to create a useable structure.

The bandstand features columns which match the pattern of the original design. To achieve this, the columns were traced from photographs which were enlarged.

Accurate scaled wooden patterns were made up in order for the columns to be cast at a foundry.

The design also includes a cornice around the top of the structure which is a detail taken from the original bandstands and is also evident on the lodge building at the parks main entrance.

Members of the Friends group and Kirklees parks officers have been liaising constantly with the contractors over the design.

The Park is expected to host band concerts and other events in the summer months.

The temporary bandstand is likely to be removed.

It is one of many projects in Yorkshire supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, totalling £351m.