'˜Bring back our bandstand!'

Scores of people have taken to social media calling for the Crawley’s bandstand - which stood in Queens Square for decades - to be put back there.

The bandstand has been removed as part of a £3.2 million revamp of Queens Square and is currently being housed in a secret location while it undergoes repairs. It is then planned to move it into the nearby Memorial Gardens.

But this week many people took to Facebook asking for the much-loved bandstand to be put back into the square, stating: “It shouldn’t have been moved in the first place.”

Steve Reece said: “Put it back. It has been in the square since the square was first built.”

And Eileen Deehan added: “It will get vandalised in the garden. Put it back.”

Councillor Brenda Burgess has also voiced her opposition to the bandstand being moved into the Memorial Gardens. But, she said this week, there was no longer any room for it in Queens Square.

“My own personal view is it could go in the High Street,” she said.

“The High Street needs renovation and we could bring it back to life with music.”

Others have suggested siting it in Goffs Park or Worth Park, although some think the parks are too far out of the town centre.

Plans for it to be relocated in the Memorial Gardens have won support from some who say it would be an ideal venue for sitting listening to music on a summer’s day.

Carrie Anne Campbell posted on Facebook: “It could mean the beginning of a Crawley party in the park with lovely summer outdoor concerts.”

And Councillor Chris Mullins said: “There is a general consensus that putting the bandstand in the Memorial Gardens is the correct thing to do.

“It can’t go back to Queens Square because the new design doesn’t allow for it.”

He said it would “really work a treat” in the Memorial Gardens. “It will be accessible to everybody and it’s going to be very beautiful.”

Revamp work on Queens Square began in September and is expected to finish next August.