Description

Madi Stimpson is an exciting and original guitarist and singer-songwriter. Leaving home at 16, he learned to play by busking and playing small pub gigs before taking off round Europe with his guitar in the late 80s. Especially spending time in Belgium, Holland and Ireland, Madi learnt from many great local folk and jazz musicians.

Settling in Cardiff in the year 2000 he ran his own band The MadIntentions, playing a mix of original, Irish, folk, bluegrass and jazz. They were popular performers in the South Wales area for five years.

Moving back to the Midlands at the end of the Noughties Madi started his own trio, again playing a diverse mix of guitar music, ranging from original compositions, to versions of great classics and contemporary pieces.

Along with live performance and songwriting, Madi has also been commissioned a number of times to compose music for plays, films and animations, puppet shows and experimental theare.

With influences ranging from Chet Atkins and Les Paul, to Frank Zappa and Tarraf de Hadouks, bebop virtuosos Charlie Parker and Wes Montgomery, the gypsy jazz guitar masters Django Reinhardt and Bireli Lagrene and the British and Celtic folk legends of John Martyn, Pentangle and Moving Hearts, to mention but a handful of inspirational names, Madi draws on an astoundingly rich and varied range of styles.

Description

Mary Stevens Park is a well loved community asset in Stourbridge. The park receives approximately 1 million visitors per year. Dudley Council ha just completed a heritage lottery project which has involved £3.1 million being invested in improvements to the park. The improvements have included restoration of the grade 2 listed park gates, bandstand, War Memorial, Heath Pool, and the creation of a cafe. The park is a hive of activity throughout the year, with daily health and fitness activities, community group events and regular heritage and wildlife activities. Mary Stevens Park was gifted to the people of Stourbridge in 1931 by Ernest Stevens and has deed of gift restrictions in place.

The park has extensive facilities including:
- Outdoor gym
- Activity centre
- Large play area
- Toilets, and disabled access WC
- Café in the tea gardens
- Water play feature (seasonal)
- Tennis courts and multi-use games area (MUGA)
- Heath Pool (duck food available from activity centre and cafe)
- Crown Green bowls and croquet (charges apply)
- Free car parking subject to availability
- Stourbridge War Memorial
- Bandstand

The Mary Stevens Park bandstand is made of cast iron and was manufactured by Hill & Smith* Ltd of Brierley Hill in 1929.

Although the initial bandstand design was rejected in favour of a more elaborate and expensive structure, architectural historians
believe that the chosen version was picked from a catalogue, since it is strikingly similar to many others from that time.

Unfortunately, none of the original design drawings for the bandstand are available. It is likely that it was enhanced by some bespoke features, though, such as the materials for the roof.
Architectural historians John Bolton and David Mitchell indicate that the original roof material of bandstands like the one in Mary Stevens Park was usually zinc sheeting on timber joists and sarking or occasionally on an iron framework.

The bandstand also contained a number of glass panels located inside the cast iron supports. A narrow ring of iron on the roof of the bandstand may be the only remnant of these glass panels and may have been the method of securing the panels to the frame.
The existence of the glass panels within the bandstand is confirmed by a report in the Stourbridge Improvements Committee Minutes from 12th July 1944.

Stanley Road,

Stourbridge,

West Midlands,

England,

DY8 2AA.