Stuart Little, who runs our very popular History Walks, is a keen member of Friends of Alexandra Park and author of the video documentary, “A Palace for the People - The Story of Alexandra Park and Palace” . A long-term resident of Hornsey, he is the director of a local video production facilities company, as well as being a composer, arranger and singer (he sings with a local choir and plays with a local band). He is married to Linda and has two grown-up sons.
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Friends of Alexandra Park (FoAP): Can you tell us about your own history with the Park? How long you have been using and enjoying it?
I moved to north London in the mid 1970s (I was born and brought up in Kingston-upon-Thames) and my then-girlfriend and I used to drive in her little Triumph Spitfire up to the Palace promenade in front of the Great Hall to look at the view across London.
Interestingly my father, who was born in Wales and moved to Dulwich as a young man and had no connection with north London, used regularly to visit Alexandra Park in the 1930s for the evening horse-racing events. Unfortunately, by the 1950s when I was a youngster, he restricted our visits to the races— mainly to Kempton Park and Sandown— so I didn’t get to know the Park until much later.
FoAP: Your history walks are always so stimulating. What first sparked your interest in its history?
As a little boy I was fascinated by the kings and queens of England and learnt all their names and dates (from 1066 to the present).
As a schoolboy my interest dipped for a while but a history teacher at my school (universally known as ‘Slug’) re-kindled my interest and soon I was wallowing in nineteenth-century European history and such fabulously-named characters as Rupert of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and the like.
Subsequently much of my reading has been books about historical characters and events.
FoAP: What are the key features of the Park and its evolution over the years that you find most compelling?
I recognise that a lot of people think of particular venues in terms of the big events that have taken place there, or perhaps of something more personal like times spent there with friends or lovers, but I like the Park most of all when it is sparsely populated and one can enjoy a sense of isolation. Then one can best enjoy the colour of the trees, the play of light on the water in the nature reserve and the sounds of the birds (broken only occasionally by the passing sound of the King’s Cross to Peterborough Express!).
FoAP: How did you go about learning more about it?
The main spur to my interest in the history of the Park and Palace was the making of the video documentary A Palace for the People - The Story of Alexandra Park and Palace, to which my colleague Peter Kidman and I devoted two years of research back in the mid-1990s. In addition to the obvious sources of information such as the Palace itself, the Hornsey Historical Society and the Haringey Museum and Archive facility at Bruce Castle, we also had access to many private archives of photographs and other memorabilia.
FoAP: Can you tell us about the various activities you have been involved with in terms of your interest: i.e. your filming, walks, talks etc?
When my former colleague Peter Kidman and I formed KLA Film and Video Communication in 1996 we wanted a flagship documentary production with which to launch the company. As he lived on the north side and I lived on the south side of the Park (which I crossed every morning to get to his house, which was then our company HQ) the history of the Park and Palace was an obvious choice. But even before that, I had often filmed in the Park (in the days when a little note to the park manager seeking permission sufficed) as part of the 16mm short story amateur dramas that I used to produce.
The first ‘history walk’ that I hosted (for FoAP) was on Wednesday 23 June 2010 (I keep good records!) and to this day I’m sure that this was the most successful (and for me the most satisfying) of all the walks and talks that I have subsequently hosted. It was one of those nights when everything went just perfectly and I have striven ever since to recapture the mood of that perfect evening.
My wife Linda usually accompanies me on the walks and not only looks after the photos that I bring along to illustrate various points but also interjects her own take on the history of the Palace and Park (she has been resident in the area since 1953).
Since the first walk I have organised many walks and also lectures, with clips from the documentary, for organisations such as the Local History Group of Barnet U3A, the Hornsey Historical Society, the Hornsey Pensions Action Group and of course the Friends of Alexandra Park.
FoAP: Where can people get hold of a copy of your video?
The main sales outlet for the DVD is the Hornsey Historical Society: http://www.hornseyhistorical.org.uk/contacts.htm
But I also sell direct to the public via the KLA website: http://www.klafilmvideo.co.uk/Alexandra_Palace.htm
It costs just £14.99 (cheap at twice the price!).
FoAP: What are your views on the Park as it is currently?
I think that the present balance in the Park between public events such as the Soapbox Derby and its most-days availability as a place to walk, sit and commune with nature is about right. Even when there is a big event on at the Palace, the Park usually feels spacious and uncrowded and that’s pretty much how I like it.
FoAP: What are the particular aspects you love about the Park apart from its historical features? Why?
I think that I pretty much covered this in my answer to your ‘compelling key features’ question but I probably haven’t made enough in my previous responses of the ‘community feel’ that the Park has. The modest commercial activities like the garden centre, the Lakeside Café and the Phoenix Pub all help to make the park a place where one can meet friends or, as until recently I used to do, entertain clients (I must have taken literally hundreds of clients to lunch at the garden centre over the years). The lack of heavy street traffic and noise and the wonderful fresh air makes the Park a great place to hang out with one’s friends.
FoAP: Where could it be improved?
I’m one of those people who don’t much like change so my answer ought to be that I should like to see it stay just as it is. But, realistically, if one looks back to the time when I first came to know the Park, there have been a lot of improvements in terms of general quality of care, improved layout of paths, the setting-up of special conservation areas, the sympathetic installation of the inevitable vehicle parking areas and the sensitive organisation of sporting events (I exclude the organisation of the 2014 firework display from this general mood of approbation). And, of course, the forming of organisations like Friends of Alexandra Park demonstrates the degree of caring affection in which the park is held by local people.
I guess that the one big minus from the way the Park used to be is the relative lack of sightlines. So much of the Park and the views from it have latterly been obscured by the seemingly ever-increasing number of larger/taller trees. I love trees but I also used to love the uncluttered park views. Of late there does seem to have been a bit of a change but fings ain’t wot they used to be in this regard.
FoAP: What sort of activities have you got planned for those of us involved with the Park over the coming year?
Finding new angles to present on the walks is always difficult, but we always seem to find them in the end. The next planned walk will be on Wednesday 10 June. Meanwhile I recently had a request from a tour company to give a guided tour of the Park to a group of American schoolgirls!
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