Work has started on the package of improvements to give Deal Memorial Bandstand an upgrade before the beginning of the summer season of music.

Scaffolding has been put up on the structure on Walmer Green and the contractors are C. J. Gray, who are based in Deal.

This year’s season includes a concert on July 12 with the Band of Royal Marines from Portsmouth to mark the 20th year since the IRA bombed the School of Music in Walmer, murdering 11 servicemen.

Bandstand trust chairman John Perkins said: “This day will be a very special community event and, although we still have some way to go with fund-raising, it is excellent to see the start of the renovation work.

“The purpose of July 12 will be to remember those who were killed and those others whose lives were changed forever by the tragic event in September 1989.”

Mr Perkins, a former director of music of the Royal Marines Band, became trust chairman last summer.

He was based at the Walmer barracks in 1989 at the time of the terrorist explosion and was responsible for the Deal Bombing Relief Fund that collected £1.2million in the two years after the tragedy.

He launched the £15,000 bandstand appeal with a heartfelt plea at the annual visit last summer by the Royal Marines from Portsmouth, which attracted a huge crowd onto Walmer Green.

About 10,000 people are expected to watch this year’s concert and before the performance the Royal Band from Portsmouth will march through the streets.

It starts from the former depot church, into Canada Road, stopping parallel to the memorial garden on the site of the IRA explosion before re-entering south barracks, to the Jubilee Gates into Dover Road, onto The Strand, and Walmer Green.

* For more details about how to donate to the bandstand appeal see www.dealbandstand.org