As a remedy, it was agreed that the bowling green would be converted into a concert hall, much to the consternation of the bowling club members. However, they were unhappy with the acoustic properties of the Pavilion Theatre and having to play second fiddle to stage productions, pantomimes and variety shows.
The Winter Gardens in 1938, built specifically for the Bournemouth Indoor Bowling Club (Photograph Bournemouth Echo).Īfter the hostilities had ceased, the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra expanded to sixty plus musicians.
The musicians and patrons also complained about the odd acoustics as the sound bounced around the glass structure. Unfortunately, the venue wasn’t looked upon fondly and acquired a number of derogatory names such as ‘The Greenhouse’, ‘The Hothouse’ and ‘The Cucumber Frame’ because of the copious amount of potted plants strewn about the hall and the noise generated by heavy rain which drowned out the quieter passages of music. During his tenure, he oversaw a full range of entertainments, including concerts, recitals, lectures and variety shows. Three years later, the council acknowledged his achievements and Godfrey was appointed general manager of the Winter Gardens. The evening was a big success, and the band went on to perform three concerts a day throughout the coming summer months. The first concert to take place in the venue was performed on 22 nd May 1893 to an audience of approximately 10,000 people who crammed into the building, causing overcrowding. The new ensemble would be named the Bournemouth Corporation Band, and its home would be in the under utilised Winter Gardens. He was tasked with assembling a thirty strong band of musicians, supplying suitable clothing and organising a schedule of classical concerts. After a search to find an appropriate candidate, they handed a contract worth £95 a week to a twenty-four-year-old Londoner, Dan Godfrey, who came from a dynasty of distinguished bandmasters. In the early 1890s, the Bournemouth Council decided the town would benefit from a full-time group of musicians to entertain the locals and visiting holidaymakers. It was an enormous glass structure that housed a wide variety of shrubs and floral displays interspersed with exhibition space and areas for public entertainments. Opened on 16 th January 1877 by the MP Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, the original Crystal Palace and Winter Gardens was built on an open space called Cranbourne Gardens, once a favourite spot of the town’s founder, Lewis Tregonwell.
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