Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
1971 Festival of Life at Ally Pally
Does anyone have any recollection of the 1971 CND Festival of Life held at Ally Pally on Easter Sunday. John Peel, Royal Court Theatre, Gay Liberation Street theatre amongst others? I'm researching a performance of Edward Bond's play Passion on the old racecourse Grandstand. If so, could you contact tony3ts@blueyonder.co.uk
Thanks!
Tony
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by 3cfnc3ud27uq1 on
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It certainly is a great picture. Anything of the Palace in the seventies would be great to see.
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The stuff from the sixties is even better. A lot of spaced out toffs. Check out "Technicolour Dream 1967" and "Love In Festival Alexandra Palace" on You Tube. There are lots of videos on there.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Great stuff. Cheers Hob. I've added two to the HoL YouTube Channel - at the bottom (numbers 45 + 46) of this list of videos collected from other authors on YT.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Great links hob. Those hippies eh.
A 14 hour party organised by/as 'International Times Free Speech Benefit'. OK.
One of the youtube videos you mention;
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I was there. Your list sounds like the usual suspects for the period, though it would have been a bit unusual for the Royal Court Theatre to have been out and about and I don't remember them being there. That said, there may have been something going on in the Palace proper, though we stayed around the grandstand with the other post-hippies (can't see myself in the picture, but then all the hair gets in the way). The only act I remember was Kevin Ayers and the Whole World, which I have since learned included Mike Oldfield who must have been just a boy. They weren't very good. My remembrance is that the occasion was sparsely attended and the PA was inadequate.
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Hi Nick,
I can assure you the Court were there, with Edward Bond's play Passion. I have a set of photos of the show which I am presenting at a Warwick University symposium in November. Once that is done, I'll post them all online. In the cast were, amongst others, Mark McManus (Taggart), Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey) and Bob Hoskins.
Here's another photo as a teaser. Spot John Peel?
Some very dapper guys, lots of hair and no hoodies-
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According to this flickr member there used to be a building in the park called Blandford Hall. Unfortunately on 'Saturday July 17th 1971 fire broke out in the Hall. The former ballroom, was used to store paint and varnishes and was suddenly ablaze'.
Seems a tradition of buildings in this park to burn down. The council also likes to use grand old buildings as storage (eg. the Victorian Theatre within the Palace, until it was deemed to have an unsafe ceiling).
Apparently the Greater London Council (GLC) had been handed responsibility of Alexandra Park a few months earlier by govt decree.
The flickr author goes on to say, 'The Racecourse grandstand, a much tougher proposition, was torn down with bulldozers; and the beautiful Victorian bandstand destroyed and replaced with one made of fabric, which was ripped to shreds within weeks. That left the Palace itself, which the GLC was committed to raze to the ground'. (!)
So according to that account it's thanks to the GLC we have 3 less grand builldings from times bygone.
Below; the Racecourse Grandstand - with a view (1947)
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Great pic. Blandford Hall was a mock tudor building, built and used as a banqueting hall. It used by a clothing firm during WWII, giving it the name Blandford Hall.
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Great map.
From the Friends of Alexandra Park website;
'Prior to the construction of the palace a small building - The Tudor Hall (later renamed The Blandford Hall) - was erected on the east side of the park to accommodate early visitors. Over the years this served as a gymnasium, a banqueting hall, an experimental aircraft hangar, a dance hall, a clothes factory and a paint store. It burnt down in 1971.'
Quite a variety of uses! And interesting to read that Blandford Hall was older then the Palace itself.
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