Festival to raise funds to restore Beckenham bandstand – 3pm to 6pm Sun 15 Sept 2013, Croydon Road Rec

MEMORY OF A FREE FESTIVAL
“…The Sun machine is Coming Down, and we’re Gonna Have a Party…”

CELEBRATING DAVID BOWIE AND THE BECKENHAM ARTS LAB

Sunday afternoon in Croydon Road Recreation Ground, a local park in Beckenham, the residential south of London may not conjure up visions of youthful exuberance and rock music – but on Sunday September 15th the Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground are hoping that hundreds of people will descend on their park to celebrate David Bowie – Beckenham’s most famous former Beckenham resident, the legacy of the Arts Laboratory he co-founded, and the sensational Free Festival that Arts Lab members staged on the Bandstand in the park in 1969.

This year’s Festival will not be free. A modest entry fee of £5 for each adult will raise funds to restore the historic bandstand. 

Gates open at 2 pm for the 2013 Festival which will see 3 hours of live music from 3 to 6. The Thin White Duke a Bowie tribute band will perform 5 Bowie numbers including ‘Life on Mars’ and ‘Space Oddity’ – both of which have links to the band stand. Bowie’s song – ‘Memory of a Free Festival’ will be performed by Bill Liesegang. Other groups taking part are Raf and O, Keval, Low Rent Tractors, Scott Fuller and John Aldington.

There will also be 30 arts & craft stalls, food and refreshment stalls, Bowie themed face painting and a raffle.