Powis Square

1975,  ½ inch, black-and-white, 24 mins, 5 mins (excerpts), original in the London Community Video Archive (LCVA).

Celebrates the opening of the adventure playground hut on Powis Square, Notting Hill, London W11. The coverage of the day was intercut with documents of the history of radical action by local people. They forced the local Council to purchase the square for public use.

Interviewer (I) talking to a male pensioner (P) living at Powis Square
I   What do you think about the play huts on the square? What is it going to do for the area?
P   I lived a long time in the area. And in fact I live now on the square. I’ve been watching the gradual growth of the huts. And it has been very good. I like the way the children use the square. But the square got the reputation from the authorities as being a nuisance due to the local protest people. There had been one or two firework nights on November the fifth, which was broken up and unpleasances took place. So in one way the square has a reputation to overcome. Last year’s firework night was very good. There was only one incident when the police had to be called. Some fool was trying to set someone else alight with a torch. So the police were justified to interfere in this case (laughs).
I   What do most people think here about the play huts?
P   There are a lot of old people living in this square, retired people. I think they might be worried if noise was continuing into the night.
I   Couldn’t the huts also be made available for old age pensioners to use in some form?P  I don’t think so unless they used it for meetings or tea parties of some sort, when the children are perhaps in school. But certainly the children and the dogs have decided it’s their square! (laughs)