Bandstand

A Memory of Preston.

This was almost certainly a bandstand. There is a bandstand of the right shape marked near the bowling greens on the 1932 25" OS map, surveyed in 1929; this was not marked on the 1912 edition, surveyed 1910. A similar bandstand was built in Centre Vale Park, Todmorden in 1914, which is now listed, see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1467822 as the only known surviving example of this design. Theatre-style bandstands are a relatively rare type, compared with more traditional canopy types. Their permanent rear wall and soundboard roof made them much more acoustically successful than those, where temporary screens were usually erected to deflect the wind, but didn't do much to direct the sound. I don't remember this building, although I grew up using Moor Park very frequently in the late '70s and '80s. Maps suggest it was demolished bwteeen 1960 and 1965.