Kilburn Temperance Council Open Air Fête Event

A Memory of Kilburn.

I don't suppose there's anyone alive today who remembers this event but they would have to be about 143 years old! But as a shot in the dark, I wonder if anyone who remembers old Fairs and Fêtes in Kilburn or may have known about them from a grandparent or someone, to discover what a side-show event at such a Fête as described in the Title here and called PLOTOPAHLEA would be.

This has foxed me and there's absolutely nothing on the internet that gives the slightest clue so I'm wondering if it was a spelling error on the poster advertising the events.
In a publication with pictures all about the history of Kilburn and Cricklewood there's this poster with a marked resemblance to the Sgt Pepper Beatles tune "For the Benefit of Mr Kite there will be a show tonight on trampoline" etc etc The Fête was at Hendon and Finchley Cross Roads Child's Hill and had a Great Band Competition for Drum and Fife Bands. Athletic sports, Swings, Donkeys, Cocoa-Nuts (there's the clue that someone couldn't spell, or were coconuts spelled Cocoa-Nuts in 1884?) Fireworks and bizarre things like Leg of Mutton on a Greasy Pole to be climbed for. Then near the end of the poster PUNCH AND JUDY. PLOTOPAHLEA.
Now here's where I thought something is a bit weird. The National Fairground Society has no idea what it was. I wondered if it could have been in those early days of Photograph technology when the word PHOTOGRAPHY was relatively new, could this have been written by someone or type-setting done in error because the handwriting wasn't very legible when it was transcribed onto pin-up posters to place around Kilburn and if you look at the words one above the other you get this.
P H O T O G R A P H Y
P L O T O P A H L E A Very similar shaped letters at various parts of the word.
That's the only thing I can think of (outside the box so to speak) that maybe was an error and the word just doesn't exist. Could it be a side-show offered to take people's photo and develop it on the spot which was possible before 1900. The word 'photography' was invented in 1834 and was probably not much known until 1900 when people could buy cameras to use at home.
The Temperance Council were promoting a Christian life free of the 'demon drink' so this event was meant to make the public aware of their sins in that direction! Judging by the number of pubs in Kilburn now I think their mission was a little unsuccessful.

I wondered if it had something to do with puppetry since it was alongside Punch and Judy but my query to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London didn't produce anything of use. They have a puppetry archive and punch and judy stuff going back centuries.

So I just thought I'd leave this open question in case someone thinks they know that Plotopahlea was strange game known in Victorian times or maybe it was an acronym for a bizarre side-show - Pastie Lobbing Over The Orange Pile And Hit Live Eels Attempts!
Admission 3d Children 2d Tickets obtainable from Mr Box (Stationer) Promenade High Road Kilburn.


Added 09 January 2014

#307095

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