Website of the Friends of Hilly Fields
We are pleased to confirm that we will be holding our usual Big Birdwatch in Hilly Fields next weekend.
We’re planning a craft activity for children….not sure what it is yet. Glendale will bring materials for making bird feeders.
You don’t need to be an expert, we’ll have our expanded team of bird champions on hand to lead bird surveys.
We are sticking to our second Tuesday of the month and therefore have our next meeting very close to Christmas. Meetings our open to all friendly park users..and we’ll have festive refreshments to help it along the way.
Usual time 7.30pm in the Bothy, along from the bowling green.
A date for your diary…
Ice Rink on Hilly Fields tennis courts
Saturday 19 November 12-7pm
Sunday 20 November 12-4pm
Come and be amazed at the transformation into an ice skating arena (with synthetic ice)
This is part of the Brockley Design Festival — more details later — but mark the date now. www.brockleydesignfestival.org
We weren’t given notice of this event, but see that they have set up on the cricket field.
Ususal rides, seem to be there, for under 11s, from 12 until 6pm.
New for this year, they are advertising punch and judy and a reptile show, both for Sunday only.
Sorry about the lack of information, we’re just too busy.
Briefly, we are sticking to our normal dates and having the next meeting on Tuesday 13th September at 7.30. It will be held in the Bothy and will be our AGM. The minutes are nearly ready, but want to check through before I post them, can’t do that until the beginning of September now.
STORY TELLING… we have had such positive feedback from the story telling that we have managed to organise an extra event. This will be combined with a craft event. I’m not personally sorting this out, so can’t say much more other than it is planned for the 27th August. Please look out for posters that should be put up in the park. I’m going to try to organise for someone to put it on the website but as I’m not here I can’t promise anything.
Enjoy the park, there are lots of blackberries to pick.
Story Telling in the Park
Please feel welcome to water one of our many new trees in the park, I was surprised to see how dry one of my charges had got whilst I was away.
If there is anything I’ve forgotten, it will have to wait.
Thank you for everyone who took time to stop by our stall at the Brockley Society’s Midsummer Fayre…we have finally found the time to mark the quiz and sort out the winners. (Thanks to Andrew, Marcus and Polly) We had two clear winners with 14 correct answers and have drawn from a hat a third prize from the five people with 13 correct answers.
The winners are: Mr Bailey, B. Gellhora and Z. Gaffen.
…AND FINALLY THE ANSWERS TO OUR HILLY FIELDS FAMILY QUIZ
1. Hilly Fields was officially opened in 1896.
2. You find pipistrelle bats in Hilly Fields (the smallest and commonest bat in Britain).
3. The summit of Hilly Fields is 175ft above sea level.
4. The bowling club is named after Francis Drake
5. Edgar Wallace lived on Tressillian Crescent and wrote King Kong?
6. Bats are mammals.
7. Hilly Fields is approximately 31 acres.
8. Ring-necked parakeets originate from India & Nepal.
9. Prendergasts is the school in Hilly Fields.
10. Henry Williamson lived right next to Hilly Fields (Eastern Road to be precise) and the park features in his 15-volume semi-autobiographical ‘Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight’ novels.
11. The children’s book by Ann Thwaite is called “The Horse at Hilly Fields”.
12. Octavia Hill was indeed the woman who saved Hilly Fields from development.
13. Twelve stones make up the Stone Circle and on a sunny day, you can tell the time from them.
14. The magpie was the biggest bird spotted in Hilly Fields last year (not including the midsummer fayre’s bird of prey display!).
15. The biggest spider in Hilly Fields is in the playground (and no doubt the oldest too).
16. There are approximately 700 trees in the park.
17. You can’t see the Eiffel Tower from Hilly Fields.
18. Nick Nicely was the rock musician who had a cult psychedelic hit in 1982 called ‘Hilly Fields’.
In case you didn’t already know, come rain or shine, we have the annual midsummer fayre this Saturday 18th June. It starts at 12noon and finishes at 5pm.
The Friends will have a stall this year, with a family quiz and information about lots of the plans we have for the future.
We were awarded a sustainability grant with our Wild About Play project. This is to encourage continued use of our project.
Part of the money was awarded for a story teller and we have finally managed to co-ordinate everything. The first session will be this Tuesday the 14th June. The first session of the day will be with children from Catherine House Nursery, but the remaining sessions (that is at 11am, 11.45am and 12.30pm) are open to all pre school children.
We will have a second day of story telling the following week on Monday 20th June.
Lewisham Council would be most grateful if you could find the time to complete their 2011 survey, before 17th June 2011.
I am told that there are also hard copies which can be found with the park keeper. His hours have been cut, so you won’t find him on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.
