Cliftonville Oval Bandstand Community Space

Who we are & what we do

GRASS was established in 2003 as a resident led volunteer community group.

GRASS prides itself on being at the heart of the community, providing community projects and opportunities for young and old alike. In excess of 6,000 individuals engage with GRASS each year, with many of them enjoying Cliftonville in Bloom, Spooktonville, Cliftonville Bake-off, and the Little Library / Christmas Post Box located on Gordon Road.

GRASS has long and successful history at The Oval, stretching back over 17 years, and has hosted lots of free community events there including the Cliftonville Games, Cliftonville Classrooms, and a whole summer season of Cliftonville Outdoor Cinema screenings. 

Back in August, we were thrilled to announce, after months of hard work and preparation, that GRASS had been chosen as the preferred community organisation to take on the freehold at The Oval Bandstand & Lawns, as part of a community asset transfer from Thanet District Council.

We have proved beyond doubt that the bandstand and surrounding area can once again thrive, and we look forward to restoring this stunning community asset back to its former glory for the benefit of all. 

We now need your help

Right now, we need to pay the legal fees for the transfer of the freehold.

We also need to do some urgent infrastructure work to make the site safe, upgrade the electrics in the kiosk, install CCTV, and repaint the beautiful bandstand to prevent any further damage by the elements.

We are really keen to reopen the kiosk and the toilets for the 2021 summer season so that walkers, cyclists, and bathers at Walpole Bay have access to these essential facilities. The kiosk will be used as a community café, selling a range of light refreshments to all the people that frequent the area. All profits will be reinvested to help support The Oval site, as the whole operation will be run as a 'not for profit' social enterprise business.

With your donations we hope to complete the freehold transfer of the site by the end of March 2021, so that we can start the urgent improvement works and get the site up and running for the community.

Future plans

Using the Oval as a hub for community entertainment, and engagement, is key to the GRASS Cliftonville vision. Some of the events that could be brought to the Oval include tea dances, Christmas Markets, Health and Wellbeing classes and 'in-the-round' outdoor theatre, similar to 'Shakespeare on the Beach'. Bringing back live music to the bandstand, with an emphasis on local bands from Margate’s vibrant music scene, is key to our plans.

Most importantly, we want the community to have easy access to the site, and we look forward to building relationships so that we can help other community groups and charities use this amazing community asset.

Rewards for you

As well as the option to simply donate an amount of your own choosing, we are also offering you a selection of rewards to pledge on:

• You can become a corporate sponsor for this project by pledging £1,000 
• Become a Friend of GRASS Cliftonville by pledging £500
• Pledge £100 and receive a season ticket for two people to attend all GRASS outdoor cinema events with deckchairs  and popcorn included
• Pledge £30 and get one ticket for GRASSTONBURY music day
• Pledge £20 get tickets for two people to attend one Cliftonville Outdoor Cinema event

We have come up with a wide range of rewards for your donations and pledges, hopefully something to suit everyone, so please give anything you can to help us reach our total and make our plans happen.