Queen to leave her mark on Hilly Fields

Brockley tree planters

Nicola from the Brockley Society has emailed to let us know about a forthcoming addition to Hilly Fields tree population courtesy of the Tree Council's Jubilee Diamond Trees programme. As keen planters of trees ourselves we like this sort of activity and Hilly Fields is big enough to accommodate more trees.

The Jubilee tree donated by the Tree Council will be planted at Hilly Fields (very near the cafe)

on Wednesday May 22nd, gather from 12.45 at the cafe.  Old folk from the Brockley social club and girls from Prendergast school will plant the tree in a short ceremony at 1.15. A digital record will be made which along with the other 59 Jubilee trees will make up a digital book to be presented to Her Majesty in June. It would be great if as many groups and local tree lovers could  be represented. Friends of Hilly Fields and Brocsoc have chosen a disease resistant Elm tree - an American cultivar Princetonia for which Barchams has the exclusive license. Please do come and spread the word to others.

For those that aren't aware the Brockley Society has its own tree wardens who pay close attention to the areas trees and you can find out more about their dedication to the cause here.

Coming up...

There are a couple of events coming up to tell you about:

Our next gardening session at Brockley Common will take place on Monday 6th May from 10am - Midday.

Please bring suitable clothing and gloves (if you have them).

Secondly we have been in discussion our neighbours Transition New Cross for a while about putting an joint film showing. The event has changed somewhat from a film showing in someone's front room to being part of the New Cross and Deptford free film festival!

The film we were planning to show is called Dirt! The Movie and will be shown on Sunday 5th May at the Tidemill School, Deptford with a midday start. There are lots of other films being shown as part of the festival so take a look at the link below and see what takes your fancy!

We hope to see you at either or both of the events above.

Hedge Planting & Guided Tree Walk - Saturday 16th March

Nicola from the Brockley Society has emailed to let us know about a planned hedge planting happening in Hilly Fields adjacent to the orchard we planted this Saturday (16th). If any transitioners would like to help with the planting please go along. Additionally there is also a guided tree walk around the park from 1pm. See poster below for more details:

Brockley Common Update

On Sunday 24th February a couple of volunteers helped carry out a quick tidy up of the edible garden and the planting of sweet peas, rhubarb and herbs including Thyme and Rosemary. The Artichokes seem to have suffered somewhat by the contractors constructing the new cycle shelter as they decided to use and cut some of the paving slab stepping stones to replace others near to the cycle shelter and in the process trampled all over the artichokes..sigh. There is lots of lambs lettuce available to pick and it would appear that the fruit bushes planted late last year have taken. The garden has also gained a seat in the form of a cut tree trunk which used to live in one of the cafes on Coulgate Street and was kindly donated to Brockley Common so take a seat and contemplate the next time you're there...

The garden post tidy up and planting

The Brockley Cross Action Group were also on site and we helped them to tidy up the larger beds as well as taking down some of the fencing where the planting is now well-established. At the recent BXAG meeting it was suggested that gardening sessions become a regular monthly event. More news on that and other Brockley Common items to follow...

Community Gardening - Sunday 24th February

A date for your diary as we carry out our first community gardening event of the year on SUNDAY 24th FEBRUARY (12 noon - 4pm) in conjunction with the Brockley Cross Action Group (BXAG).

 

The BXAG will be holding a general tidy up session from midday - 4pm. Details from BXAG Chair, Rupert below:

 

This is our annual spring clean so a good attendance will be essential! We will be doing the usual litter picking, weeding & pruning and will do our once a year clear out of all the rubbish in the wildlife area. I think we also need to do two other things: (i) bag up all the excess green waste at the back of the site for the Council to collect and (ii) take down some of the temporary fencing which is now well and truly rotting, as you can see down at street level.

 

Besides this we would suggest that we spend from midday - 2pm concentrating on our plot and also the areas around the base of the Brockley Rd trees planted last year to get it into shape. Depending on the weather we may also put in some new plants if we have them but would encourage anyone who has any cuttings to bring them along too.

 

As ever please remember to wear suitable clothing, shoes and bring some gloves.

 

If you can't make it the whole session that's not a problem, just come for whatever time you can. With the BXAG beds having now had a good couple of years to take root this could be the best year yet for the areas around the station so if you want to part of this just turn up!  

Waes Hael!

Sunday 27th January saw the annual Wassail take place at the orchard on Hilly Fields. Last year was a rather snowy affair and we just missed that this year alas melted snow makes for a very wet ground under foot!

This year was arguably the best wassail yet as we improved on the whistles and pots from previous years with the addition of an accordion and violin to help us along with the singing of traditional and improvised wassail songs. After toasting all the trees in the orchard we finished off with a tasty hot drink rich in the traditional of wassail.

Toasting the trees

Pre-toasting singing

Hilly Fields Events - Sunday 27th January

A busy weekend of events in Lewisham coming up with the demonstration against the closure of Lewisham A&E on Saturday and two events in Hilly Fields on Sunday.

First up sees Hilly Fields taking part in a national survey,  The Big Birdwatch. Details below:

Following the bird watching is the return of the annual Wassail event at the orchard. Details below:

Meet at the Orchard on Hilly Fields!