Every year for the BrocSoc Midsummer Fayre, we produce a Hilly Fields quiz. It’s a good old-fashioned paper and pen quiz which is completed at the Friends stall and tests your knowledge of our beautiful park. This year, nearly fifty brave people had a go and although some of the questions were challenging, most of you did well. Four people got all ten questions right and they will share the prize which is vouchers to spend at the cafe.
If you missed the quiz but would like to test your knowledge, here are the ten questions. Just find a sheet of paper and pen and scribble down your answers, then scroll down beyond the photo to find our answers. Please note that this is purely for your entertainment and edification as it’s too late to win a prize!
Questions
Choose one from the possible answers given after each question.
1. Which social reformer (with an appropriate surname) helped save Hilly Fields from building development in the 1890s?
Answer: a. Octavia Hill; b. Margaret McMillan; c. Emmeline Pankhurst
2. How many stones are there in the Hilly Fields stone circle?
Answer: a. 8; b. 10; c12; d.16
3. Where in the park can you find a mural (or’frieze’) of Hilly Fields painted by Evelyn Dunbar in 1934?
Answer: a. In the cafe; b. In Prendergast College; c. In the children’s playground
4. Who wrote and recorded the legendary retro-psychedelic song ‘Hilly Fields (1892)’ – partly a ‘tribute to Lewisham’s real life Hilly Fields park’?
Answer: a. Dick Dicely; b. Nick Nicely; c. Rick Ricely; d. Vic Vicely.
5. A new elm tree was planted in the park last year to commemorate an event which occurred in 2012. Was it?
Answer: a. The London Olympics; b. the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee; c. UK coming 25th in the Eurovision Song Contest.
6. One of these birds nested in a hole in a Hilly Fields tree this spring. Was it?
Answer: a. Great Black-backed Gull; b. Great Spotted Woodpecker; c. Great Crested Grebe; d. Great Northern Diver.]
7. Which one of these sporting activities can you not do on Hilly Fields?
Answer: a. running; b. swimming; c. tennis; d. calisthenic workouts; e. table tennis.
8. Which one of these hills can you not see from Hilly Fields?
Answer: a. Blythe Hill; b. Richmond Hill; c. Shooter’s Hill; d. Sydenham Hill.
9. Which well-known author lived as a boy on Eastern Rd facing Hilly Fields?
Answer: a. Henry James; b. Henry Miller; c. O’Henry; d. Henry Williamson.
10. Which animals used to graze on Hilly Fields in the good old days?
Answer: a. deer; b. sheep; c. kune-kune pigs; d. alpaca
Answers
1. Octavia Hill
2. 12 stones. It”s an analemmatic sundial and each stone represents an hour in the day.
3. In Prendergast College
4. All four names were ticked by somebody or other, but the correct answer is Nick Nicely and you can find his masterpiece here.
5. The Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
6. Great Spotted Woodpecker. The other three are aquatic birds and don’t nest in trees.
7. Swimming. Someone did suggest we should have a pond on Hilly Fields, but for ducks rather than humans.
8. Richmond Hill. Blythe Hill and Sydenham Hill can be seen to the south; Shooter’s Hill to the east.
9. Henry Williamson (see the plaque on the frontage of 21 Eastern Rd). The other Henrys spent their boyhoods somewhere in America.
10. Sheep.
