Bands played regularly in the parks of Birmingham. Whether this practice should be extended to Sutton Park became a contentious issue in the early decades of the 20th century. Advocates of the idea believed the park was more than just a place for quiet contemplation - it should be a place of entertainment and music would improve people's spirits.

'The only music we get in the park from one year's end to another', a newspaper correspondent complained in 1904, 'is the sound of the bugle and the grinding of a worn-out organ at the Crystal Palace.'

The 'sound of the bugle' was a reference to the volunteers who regularly underwent military training
in the park.

There were plenty who dissented from this view. For them, bands were for the 'artificial' parks of Birmingham not for Sutton Park.

Nonetheless shortly before the First World War, the town council gave its approval for music to be provided in the park on Wednesday afternoons and evenings, allocating £200 to fund this.

These were either military bands or bands formed in workplaces (a common practice at the time). The council even went to the trouble of providing chairs. The hiring of bands was discontinued during the First World War - but the issue was revived once it was over.

For the town council, bands meant increased numbers of visitors which equalled increased revenues
at the gates.

A caucus of councillors were also in favour of the provision of tennis courts and bowling greens - one was later to suggest the building of a hotel by the golf course.

Yet, fully aware of an outcry, a de-cision about whether to arrange for music in the park kept being put off.

In 1927 the council finally decided that military and colliery bands could play in the park on Sundays and one weekday afternoon during the summer months.

By the late 1940s, musical performances in the park had grown more ambitious. In June 1948 the Clarion Singers - a group of amateur singers and instrumentalists united by a love of socialism - staged a remarkable concert on BIackroot Pool. Stationed on a floating bandstand and supported by a motor launch
and two punts, they dressed in 18th century clothes and played 18th century instruments. 'People thronged the banks of Blackroot Pool . .', it was
reported.

• Sutton Park: A Social History 1900-1950 by Stephen Roberts is available from Amazon, £5.

Associate Professor
Stephen Roberts