These notes appear in the archives without an author, but display a series of one-line ideas, added over a period of time (months?) for developing the north London pleasure-ground of Alexandra Palace, which was perennially on the verge of bankruptcy. They provide a unique insight into the mind of a harassed Victorian entrepreneur.
Railway timetable given or sold at every Ry Station along lines to & from City & to and from AP with list of AP attractions; ? charge 1/2d & illustrate nicely and get nearly the cost back
Arrange Waiting Room at Railway - Have at in Central Hall & at each end
" next train to City ____ To King's Cross ___ [illeg] ___ for respectively
Study towns round Palace, Enfield, Barnet &c.
Subscription Skittle Ground (see the one Mr. Perfect plays at)
Volunteer Ball - have Central Hall gradually close-boarded
Sales of sporting and other dogs by Freeman ([illeg.] Rich called 8/11/79)
Hunters show & jumping Competn as at Lyons Down (see B, Booth, future)
Compare Ry fares without admt. to see what added
Picturesque villas in the park
Exhibtn to illustrate Old London - Antiquarian & Relics - Photos Moods Maps & Pictures
Leifold & other organists - Foreigners for Saint Saens &c Stainer, Best
Smoking Gallery in Central Hall
No Touting but gentlemanly information given [illeg.]
next train leaves at ___ & so on. "Have you shown your children the Japanese Village, Sir?" "Have you seen the new ____" & so on
Panto & opera books shd have a few bars of most popular airs
3rd class Dining room where West Rooms now useless are
Big label with name of piece to be played by Band or sung &c (?Blackboard)
Plenty of information given to Visitors so that programmes not necessary
Print programmes on back of handbills
Steam [illeg.] Railway, Wm Eton 6 Rue des Fermieries, Batignolles, Paris
Offer Prize for the best £10 Piano. Also for Girl Pianists.
Sewing Machine Exhibt. Prizes for machinists (girls)
Get Ry Co's to give small space on monthly bills for AP Calendar
AP trains briefly stated & small
Trade Contests - Bartenders, Bricklayers &c
Plant a Maze
Sell Fruit and Cigars at Telegraph office
Exhibition of Taxidermy
Stall for novelties - Elect. Pen zylographing, Yankee Dodges
Big Strong aviary Macaws flying about || Bear Pit
Entrance to theatre from top of Railway stairs
Amuse crowd on Bank Holiday nights with lime light [illeg.] (save gas!)
Make Working Models a really good exhibition
?Electric light for Palace & Park?
Goat Enclosure - high rock work as Jardin d'Acclimiation
Sell Reminiscences of S.G. like Royal Academy does
?Sea water Swimming Bath (Willing, Had[illeg.], ?Lloyds homemade)
Get some of the features of Polytechnic, Madame Tussaud's. Aquarium (one or two tanks zoological f[illeg.] for specialties)
A Rabbit Warren | An Alligator Pond
Push books of admission tickets
Valentines Day Concert of Love Songs, Huge Valentine, Comic figure (as Guy show)
Fairy Groups by Wilson (Cinderella trying on shoes, R.Riding Hood & Wolf &c)
St. Patrick's Day
St. Andrews, St. Crispin's Day (Best[?] Show), French Fete (when?) Italian Fete [illeg.]
Exchange posters with Halls and Theatres
Programmes on sale at all Ry Stations
House to House dely [delivery] of circulars to be systematized
?Glaciarium - see one ?for Slides
All Fool's Festival a la Guy show
Shows of artificial flowers \ mechanical toys
Mammoth Punch & Judy (Lightfoot)
Biscuit advertisements
Exhibtn of Engravings, Photographs
Exhibitors to pay for their gas
Half Holiday Entmts for Children ?on Satys or Wednys of a Dissolvg View Polytechnic sort
Cultivate the Religious people, Sunday School Gatherings &c because N.L. so good
Piscatorial Exhibition at end of fishing season (R. Ag. 78)
Paris Panorama M.Marie
Exhibtn. Burglars Implements & means to outwit them, safe, weapons &c
(never let Stilemen work together long. The frauds perpetrated are:
Passing 2 at a time \ adults through children's stile \ Ry. tkts through S.T. tile & then cash at Ry.
Always put best men at ticket stile? & doubtful ones on cash
Skipping Ropes - send for, in grounds
Invalid Chairs if only one of Wicker
Doll Show Ancient & Modern Toys contrasted
Make statues of Kings & Queens instructive & great men in each reign &c
Always label gifts of birds[?] &c with names of donors. Get much in this way as advt. for donors.
We ought to be able to tell Excursion parties rates including admn. from any Station named for any number (Gower St. Walworth Rd &c)
Calendar of attractions posted in every Ry carriage of GNR, NLR, GER
Riding School
Get Joint Tckts issued at Crouch End, Edmonton & all stations.
Can more burners be stopped, Central Hall, to enable frequent entire lighting
Can Poultry Show be profitably revived (Nichols, W.J 6 Arnold Rd Tooting)
Ballad Concerts, Classical Concerts, English opera concerts
Meeting of Old Soldiers
Ballon captif
? Bookstall, secondhand books & at Publishers prices
Get gas lower price if more used
Water at 7.5 instead of 9d
Reading Room, Buy Maps & all periodls at trade price
? Subscribe for telegraphic news
Competition among Theatrical Property Masters
Singlestick - Profll & Amateurs, Volunteers
--- Military, All[?] Clubs
Glee clubs, Chamber Music, Dramatic Recitations
[illeg.] in Latin and other languages - German & French particly
At Easter get chief attractive items of London Xmas pantos
Find employment for unoccupied Stilemen, Ladies [illeg.] Women &c
Prize for best Manifolder Zylograph &C Typewriter
Exhibn of means to do [ditto] - Electric Pen &c
Herriot & Louie & such for Entnts in dull times & Good Friday
Show Type Setting Machine & other interesting machine
Rail Staff tkts? Pay lower price for Waiters, Choir &c than for general
Make W. green Doorkeeper's room Refreshment Bar
Get Paintings by Princesses? Buy. 2y Collection of Royal Artwork
Do a big Trotting match on a Race Day
Show [illeg. line due to folder paper]
advertised by R.Smith Ho. Nurserymen, Worcester
Prize for best amateur Water colour Sketch of grove
Grow water-cress in grounds
" cucumbers & sell them, letting Public cut them
Fancy biscuits to be made in Public & sold
[illeg.] Exhibit Ball [illeg.] water jet &c &c.
Milk & Cows or his idea of model farm combined
? Admit all children free or pass them free to Circus or -
? Cheap arrangemt for Mondays
Stiles to record by Electricity in Central Office
Alls Tkts Compy & paid shd have name & address on front
Get Wood Green Stn called A Park & W.G.
If Circus, Band specially for it?
Special Trains from City not stopping [illeg.] KX ?at FP?
Exhibitors stalls in Central Hall & Corridors (Get a Naturalist)
Chess with living men
Encourage Amateur Walking & Runnung
Make Trotting Track perfectly level
Alter Bicycle Track
Make Stand over Ref Pavillion for Trotting or Buy a Stand
Cinder Track for Running
Alter Excursion Tariff Reconcile contradictions
Make Statues instructive by labels
Popcorn should be made & sold well away from sweetmeats
Choir Tickets to be limited in their date of admission
James B's [illeg.] for children's stiles
Blotting pad with sketches of AP & Calendar (see Brown B Kunder 7)
Shooting at glass balls thrown from spring
£7 A [LFA?] to hasten good housebuilding outside. Use surplus shrubs A. Park
Sell foods on commission
Morgan promised favourable advertising arrangement
Arrange a simple plan for sale of tickets available by Rail like Police Fete but simpler to suit Tonic-Sol-Fa people &c
? At Palace High level entr. combined work of Ry Tkt people & our Stilemen
D ___ ? after stiles so that visitors can use either stairs
Many more Ludgate Trains. More direct City Trains less changes at F Park
Erect earth works & Camp as at Ulundi Edowe, Rorkes Drift
? get the verulable defenders to undertake it?
Electric Tram in grounds (or Steam) [illeg.] from Wood Green
[illeg.] Deep Park
Festoon of Ivy Grove entrances Ivy specialties
? offer a prize for Ivy Figures
Get Entce to Grove from Road & from Ry
Cultivate Miseltoe in the Grove
Advt at bottom of Tumbler glasses seen as one drinks
Dr Rosenthal of 52 Woburn Place & 110 Leadenhall St. offered to bring over by Emperors [illeg.] the best German Band (Army) asked £60 for one evg
Prize for [illeg.] Cornet Playing & other Instrumentalists (Girl Pianists) by Shirley [illeg.]
Watercress Exhibtn as held at __
Get a London office
Staff Bar where B & R's office now is
? Sell tickets instead of taking money at Entrances
? By people to divide by separate doors those with tkts including admns & those who will have to pay [illeg.]
Give away Daily programmes to those who pay for adm (see below)
Get GER to run trains from Enfield &c to meet down trains at [illeg.]
Hold an Autumn Bird Show (never yet done)
Find out about Water Shoes to float people across lake
?2/6 or [illeg.] if after a certain time for promenade
Machinery show as at Kilburn
Java Sparrows in Conservatory
Get Police to accept Staff Railway Tickets
A Potters Wheel at Work
Reduce City Rail fares 1/6 3rd cl keeping 1st and 2nd as now?
Get Foresters, Odd Fellows &c on liberal terms
Settle Horse show, Dog Show, Machny exhbitn, Races & Trotting early
Ransome's Complete primer of work in Machinery kept where also (or S. Wolssom's Patent) place coles, ivory turning, printing, coventry weaving, silhouettes, cigarette making, carving meershaum pipes, Pencock's collection of Eggs, Picture frame making, card printing, sausage making, ? beer bottling, bottle cleaning, moot mending
Settle Rates, Gas, Water, Railway contract, before [illeg.]
Turn Bazaar into conservatory
? Put K & 2 into present conservatory
Get Races & all other licenses transferred first
Ry get % from Ry Cos from people travelling with free tickets by Ry
Get Field for Races transferred from B & R by GNR
Ry Improvements - Better S.L. traffic via Ludgate - Better [illeg.] West End, Midland branch & cannot delay at York Rd be abolished?
Horses, Ponies, Donkeys & Goat chaises on line in Park
Finsbury Pk Tramline prolonged to Wood Green
Open air ochestra for singing in Grove. ? Use small orchestra in Centl. Hall
Scarboro' plan of ascent & descent to ticket ground & Wood Green entc.
Races make saddling paddock in the angle by Weighing Room & chge extra
Fire drill in public - Volunteers & Regulars [illeg.]
[illeg.] La Crosse - Football - Billard Matches
Change bills with all theatres, music halls, running grounds
Squirrels in Grove - Rabbit warren
Big collection of Chimpanzees
Can Alphand of Paris be useful
Entrance to Grove
Competition of Facia Writers. ?J.B. always at work in public
Scotch Buffet
Competition of Theatre Bands of London
Naturalists Competition in Taxidermy
Let backs of handbills be instructive - grammatical errors &c
With illustrations of possible
Artificial skating rink
Cart Horse Show (held Agric. Hall)
- get all Pickford's horses on say a Good Friday?
Season Prog to have train serve from all Stations tabulated
Ry sell Ry Tkts in sheets of 20 perforated, at reduced price
Ry sell S. Tkts at reduced price to Choir, Ry people etc.
Flock of Pigeons a la guildhall [illeg] Race
Authorised Itinerant Vendors on Race Days
? An Aquarium - Just the sensational tanks - Anemones &c
People dining should not pay for admin.
Use Banquetg Hall for big Billard Matches, Winter Evg Entmts &c.