‘We claimed the very source of joy ran through/It didn’t, but it seemed that way…’ On August 16 1969, a collective called the Beckenham Arts Lab put on a happening in Croydon Road Recreation Ground. One of the organisers was a hippy singer-songwriter called David Bowie, then living at Haddon Hall on Southend Road, who performed on the park’s Victorian bandstand while wife-to-be Angie sold hamburgers cooked in a wheelbarrow. He later wrote an acid-soaked anthem in tribute to the glorious day: ‘Memory of a Free Festival’.
That freaky memory will echo this weekend, when locals put on another Saturday festival on the very same spot. There are a few differences from 1969, however. Firstly, Bowie (obviously) won’t be there. Though commemorative events have taken place in the park before, this’ll be the first since the Starman’s passing in January. But there will be some faces from ’69, including Bowie’s friend and landlady Mary Finnigan and the veteran singer Amory Kane, who played at the original Growth Festival.
Second, there (probably) won’t be any acid casualties chatting to Venusians. Bowie’s Beckenham Oddity is a family-friendly affair with food and drink stalls, face painting and a raffle. It’ll be more village fête than Suffragette City, which is probably for the best. Lastly, the era of the free festival is over – tickets cost a tenner for over-tens. But there’s a good cause: raising funds for the bandstand where Bowie not only performed in ’69 but later wrote the lyrics to ‘Life on Mars’. It’s now officially called the Bowie Bandstand, and on Saturday there’ll be an auction of merchandise signed by the man himself (and his old china Iggy Pop) to help refurbish it. Head down and help keep Bowie’s memory alive in BR3.
