www.hilly.org.uk

Lewisham Council would be most grateful if you could find the time to complete their 2011 survey, before 17th June 2011.

park survey

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.

The Brockley Max event for children will be running this Saturday 4th June

Art in the Park 12-5pm Hilly Fields by the stone circle
A magical marquee and performance space offering creative workshops and events sure to fire the imagination of children from 0-16 years of age. Workshops include finger puppets, acapella singing, bringing the Amazon to life, paint your own ceramics, The Creation Station, fun with music, juggling, feltmaking, reggae rhymes, balloon modelling, face painting and loads more. Design an emblem for next year’s Where’s Max, a live Where’s Wally competition.
Once again, Francis Drake Bowls Club on Hilly Fields are hosting a free Bowls Bash so if you’re aged 8 to 98 just bring flat-soled shoes, sporting prowess and a sense of humour for a free try-out in Brockley’s very own Stadium of Balm. Test your body with Zumba, a spicy, hip-swivelling workout where African, Caribbean and Latin moves combine with aerobics.
1pm Meditation (in the memorial garden)
1.30pm Felix’s Rock Choir
2pm Roy and the new arrival
2.30pm Jules Phoenix and Remi F
3.30pm Zumba
4pm Legend of Dunwoody
4.30pm Raffle

Watch the Ladywell Youth Skaters play hockey, skate ball and tug of war on the basketball pitch.
Celebrate Brockley International Explorer Day to celebrate Dunwoody’s life at 16:00. And at 16.30 we’ll have the grand raffle prize draw.
See what the local artists and designers are making at the Art Mart at the Max craft market, try the Jam Circus bar and lounge where you chill out on the comfy sofas and chair, and tantalise your taste buds with the Max BBQ and a range of food from local caterers.

All the trees in our orchard are now in leaf. They are being watered by a team of volunteers…the Egremont Russet had an especially good watering yesterday.

helpful hands watering the Egremont Russet tree in orchard

Following our successful dawn chorus event a few years ago, our keen bird champion has managed to persuade Chris McGaw to lead another. This will be on 19th May, so prepare for an early rise, as dawn is just after 5am.

We are expecting a flurry of activity in May, as we organise our final events with the Lottery’s sustainability grant. Following on from the successful story telling in the park post the playground opening, we will soon be confirming dates for a few more story telling events.

Art In The Park

Is looking for
ARTISTS – CRAFTSPEOPLE – PERFORMERS – MUSICIANS
To run workshops for children and young people
On the 4th of June 2011
On Hilly Fields

For those that have not been to our fantastic Festival, this is a nine-day Festival in the
heart of our community. Art in the Park is the final day and is especially dedicated
to young people and children. It is hugely successful and great fun. We like some
workshops to reflect Brockley and it’s people and others can be as wide as your
imagination, so hope you want to be part of a great event and look forward to hearing
from you.

Deadline for Proposals for workshops and projects is the 30th of March 2011.

For further information contact
Elisabetta
elisabetta@brockleymax.co.uk

People were enjoying the park and views of distant fireworks on New Year’s Eve, and the park has hosted a few other events since.

a busy playground at midnight

1st January 2011, just after midnight

When we finally came to plant the orchard, the snow seemed a distant memory and we were fortunate to have a mild January morning for the planting. The turn out was fantastic with some 50 people all coming to help and enjoy the delicious refreshments courtesy of Transition Brockley.

planting demonstration

backfilling soil for the egremont russet

We had another bitterly cold morning for our Birdwatch, but keen neighbours turned out for the survey. We had some 6 or 7 different groups filling in survey sheets during their walk around the park.

the not quite final tally

There were five bird boxes made, and their proud owners took them home to add some protective coatings and put them up in their gardens.

early DIY skills in evidence

WASSAILING THE NEW TREES: THURSDAY 3 FEB, 7.00 – 7.45 PM AT THE ORCHARD ON HILLY FIELDS

I’m posting Transition Brockley’s mail out, all welcome to join this social event. (No pagan beliefs necessary).

As a first celebration of the orchard, wishing the trees good health (wassailing) is a custom we’d like to embrace. As we are novices, all ideas are welcome and apart from the description at the end of this email (which probably has the main elements of a good wassail), there is a lot of information and YouTube video on the internet if you google “wassailing orchards” to find out more. Some people have very elaborate celebrations but I think we can mould our own particular Brockley version. If anyone wants to write a suitable wassail song for new trees (to a familiar tune), that would be great!

Send us your ideas. We’re all new to this, so it’ll be a fun event to create as a group.

Initial thoughts are for people to bring some warm (apple type of) drink (in thermos) and pieces of toast and something to make a bit of noise (drum, whistle etc), and then we can toast each tree with a splash of warm cider/apple juice, wedge a piece of toast in the wire mesh for the birds, and then have a bit of a bang to scare away any evil spirits or pests which might cause disease. However, we’ll collect your ideas and send an email nearer the date with any specifics.

We’re meeting up at 7.00pm so that it isn’t too late for children to come along.

Our next event is this Saturday 29th, when we will holding our third Hilly Fields Big Bird Watch.
There will also be a chance to make your own bird feeder and (assuming the kits have arrived with Glendale) we will be decorating and putting together bird boxes.

All welcome to come along and join us from 11am. We’ll be packing up at 1pm.

Minutes from a snowy Hilly Fields

FofHF_Minutes 30_NOV_10

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 8th March at 7.30.
We are investigating a slightly cosier venue, but it may be back in the the park keepers room. So keep an eye out.