The wonderful thing was that Emslie qualified for three separate grants – Sports, Heritage and Arts.” All applications were successful. With a final budget of pounds 2.05m, Kuszell and his team collaborated closely with local interest groups, businesses and schools, the Notting Hill Carnival office, the Institute for the Blind, local artists and the newly formed Friends of Emslie Horniman and the refurbishment began.The site had fallen into appalling disrepair, and opinions from all sides were damning. Linda Devo, the new chairman of Friends of Emslie Horniman, described the park as “horrible” when she moved there six years ago “It was basically used as a car-park for the Carnival. I tried to sit there in the summer, but it was just an unpleasant place to be.” Studio E’s report was equally scathing: “There is no sense of communal ownership. The all-weather sports pitch is unusable for any serious sporting intentions, the Voysey garden has lost all its subtler facilities, and mothers and toddlers find themselves using the park alongside muggers and drug-abusers.”The park opened just before last year’s Carnival. Today, its radical design stands testament to the tenacity of local people and the scruples of the professionals involved.

Studio E collaborated with the artist Peter Fink to administrate the integration of architecture, landscape and art features: his influence can be seen in the coloured safety surfacing of the playground and five lighting columns. Meanwhile, 11 interactive play features in the circles carved out of the playground walls were commissioned from local artists.”In design terms,” says Devo, “I think the council felt that if the Voysey garden was restored then it wasn’t so important for the rest to be traditional.” And traditional it certainly is not, although the Voysey garden remains the anchor of Emslie Horniman, its architectural references echoed in the curve of each flowerbed, the swoop of each wall and the angles of the stone and gravel paths. For the rest, fencing, gates and steel light frames establish a contemporary theme throughout. Bright swathes of yellow, scarlet and blue run through the greys and greens and merge into a kaleidoscope in the play area, where rubberised mounds and mouldings define a miniature landscape.”I call it the natural meets the Teletubbies,” says Tom the warden, from his state-of-the-art warden’s tower. “The architects were great at listening to the problems and complaints as well as the ideas of the community, and responding to them.”The carnival, for example, Emslie’s most loyal guest, has not been ignored. Land was sacrificed to allow a broadening of the street to the north, providing a paved stage for the steel band event held in the weekend before Carnival.

The pavement’s curve mirrors the scooped bowl of raised land around it, with granite steps that act as a natural auditorium. Beyond this, a stretch of green bordered by poplar trees leads to the Quiet Garden – a corner of scented plants and smooth pebbles, with poetry inscribed on cobbles and rocks.The new all-weather sports pitch was relocated to the south of the park to make it closer to residential estates, schools and the adventure playground. Illuminated by night and now much-used, it offers a sense of security absent in its former location.Asked whether he’s seen a change, Tom replies without hesitation: “Oh, yes The mums can sit and chat and the kids love it. We have on average two architects a week visiting the Voysey garden, there’s a blind man who comes to run his hands over the glass pebbles and even the small kids ask if they can use the Quiet Garden. This park is proof that people care about their community.”And, if confirmation of success is lack of vandalism, then the park has triumphed. “All we’ve found is a little bit of graffiti and we will have to apprehend some children,” he says. “They want to look cool in front of their mates, but when you make them realise they are destroying something for themselves and that the council and consequently their parents will have to pay for it – that seems to get through to them.” The philosophy of taking pride in common ownership is fundamental to Tom’s successful discipline.As a constantly accessible communal facility, parks will always be more symbolic of social and cultural unity than any build- ing could be.

Emslie Horniman’s rebirth ha#s many to thank, but its future lies in the hands of its creators as well as its users – for they are now one and the same. If Emslie has proved that local pride can be fired by a tiny park, then the future for Britain’s parks and their 8 million daily users has new hope. It may be surprising that a park devised by a businessman and a nun at the start of the century, should reach its prime at the end of it. But only time will tell whether it remains a benchmark for urban parks everywhere.English Heritage’s Urban Parks Programme is now set to run for a further three years Information Line: 0171 591 6041/6043 Julian Harrap Architects: 0171 729 5111 Studio E Architects: 0171 385 7126. MOST light entertainment shows need audiences to provide the laughs, the claps and the general ambience, so instead of a night out at the cinema, why not try the television studio? You get a “live” experience and the satisfaction of knowing you’ve seen the programme before anyone else, as well as a free evening’s entertainment. We sent our panel of testers to find the premier programmes for live viewing.

THE PANEL
Our testers, avid television watchers aged between 18 and 40, were Alistair Perry, Jessica Rojas, Kate Lefley, Laura Morley, Ian Nicholson, Edward Bolton, Stefan Lindemann, Richard Hawkins, Alix Johnson, Liz Sullivan and me.THE TESTUnder consideration were pre-show hospitality, warm-up acts, audience/ presenter interaction, length of filming, general comfort and the atmosphere.***BLIND DATELWT Studios, London SE1″Altogether untaxing,” pronounced Alix Johnson of the Blind Date audience experience. Jessica Rojas thought so too, describing this as easy enjoyment, although she voiced irritation at the long queues and lack of refreshments. “We all came straight from work, and a bar to relax in beforehand would have been nice,” Alix agreed. However, the filming itself was entertaining and “the lack of enforced smiling a definite bonus” (Edward Bolton), while Jessica thought the rapport between warm-up man Ted Robinson and the audience enhanced the experience: “Both he and Cilla chatted away to us throughout.”Complaints were made about the cramped seats and the lengthy recording time (over two hours). “A couple of contestants kept fluffing their answers, which meant lots of annoying retakes,” said Jessica. But testers were pleased to see that BD’s selection process is genuine – they were forbidden to shout out “pick number two!” Overall, panellists did enjoy the live Blind Date experience, but thought it too similar to the televised version to be worth attending.*NIGHT FEVERTeddington Studios, MiddlesexJaw-ache from excessive and unnatural smiling at Night Fever was a big problem for our panel, as was the relentless exhortation to “just go wild”.