Eastbourne Bandstand
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The Eastbourne Bandstand is a bandstand on the seafront of the East Sussex coastal town of Eastbourne. The current bandstand was built in 1935, with its unique semi-circular design and blue domed roof; there is no other in the United Kingdom. It has a main arena, middle and upper balconies for seating and originally seated 3,500 but with current health and safety laws this has been reduced to 1,500.
The building of the Bandstand formed part of the main seafront improvements, the Bandstand itsself cost £28,000 and was surmounted with a stainless steel spire. The project engineer was Leslie Rosevere. The first concerts were given on the 28th July 1935 with a total of 10,400 attending all three concerts and paying 3d each. The Bandstand was officially opened on the 5th August 1935 by the Lord Lieutenant of the county, Lord Leconfield with an audience of 8,000.
The Bandstand, for many years played host to a full programme of military bands. On a daily basis the bands would play from Easter until the end of October. Over the years this was reduced, mainly because audience number were dropping and in 2001 action had to be taken as the costs of the military bands were far out weighing the audience attendance. The local civilian bands were attracting similar audiences to those of military. So therefore it was decided that the military band had to be cut further. If the Bandstand was to survive as a musical entertainment venue new audiences and new entertainments had to be found. with the introduction of big band nights, rock 'n' roll, Last Night of the Proms and 1812 firework concerts this went to some way of filling the financial gap and in 2006 saw the introduction of tribute concerts, which was a hugh success, bringing in big new audience numbers.
The bandstand to this day plays an important part in the musical entertainment on the south coast offering approx 150 concerts per year.
There is a commemorative plaque at the rear of the current bandstand in memory of Eastbourne bandsman John Wesley Woodward, who was one of those playing on the Titanic when it sank on April 15, 1912.
In recent years the Bandstand has featured in numerous television programmes such as Foyle's War, and is shown in the opening sequence of BBC South East Today.
