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| Courtesy of Fred Pearce |
Lewisham Council also confirms that "Ladywell & Brockley Cemetery is closed today because of fallen and unsafe trees."
Hilly Fields tree wreckage
Lewisham Council also confirms that "Ladywell & Brockley Cemetery is closed today because of fallen and unsafe trees."
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Music in the Park, August 22nd
I'm writing about a new music night we're running in Hilly Fields.
It's a little experiment to see how something like this will work up there.
The cafe is very small, so numbers are limited, so advice would be to turn up early-ish.
We would like to start getting some more live music going in Brockley so this is the first venture, to see how this one goes.
It's such a great spot up there for something like this.
It's a little experiment to see how something like this will work up there.
The cafe is very small, so numbers are limited, so advice would be to turn up early-ish.
We would like to start getting some more live music going in Brockley so this is the first venture, to see how this one goes.
It's such a great spot up there for something like this.
One night in Calabria in Brockley
Andy from pop-up dining company The Black Cat Bistro writes:
I'm pleased and in no small way relieved to say that our first pop-up night in Brockley was a great success and we've enjoyed some really lovely feedback. So we're doing another.
On Friday 23rd August we are hosting 'one night in Calabria'. We'll be cooking up four courses of Neapolitan classics in Hilly Fields including homemade pasta, regional antipasti, seafood, and a good bit of chilli spice. The emphasis will again be on fish and veggie based dishes with a full menu available from next week. Reservations are being taken now and tickets will be available from the cafe from next week.
For more info and booking please text me on 07804702221 or email me via mobileandystewart@gmail.com
I'm pleased and in no small way relieved to say that our first pop-up night in Brockley was a great success and we've enjoyed some really lovely feedback. So we're doing another.
On Friday 23rd August we are hosting 'one night in Calabria'. We'll be cooking up four courses of Neapolitan classics in Hilly Fields including homemade pasta, regional antipasti, seafood, and a good bit of chilli spice. The emphasis will again be on fish and veggie based dishes with a full menu available from next week. Reservations are being taken now and tickets will be available from the cafe from next week.
For more info and booking please text me on 07804702221 or email me via mobileandystewart@gmail.com
Hilly Fields pop-up French dining
Andy writes:
I'm a local chef and Brockley resident.
Fred and Ruth at Pistachio's in Hilly Fields have kindly let me use the cafe on Friday, July 26th to do a pop up restaurant night with a French theme. I'll be offering canapés and three courses for £32.
Tickets can be purchased by leaving a 50% deposit and your email address at the cafe. Here's the menu:
Starters
I'm a local chef and Brockley resident.
Fred and Ruth at Pistachio's in Hilly Fields have kindly let me use the cafe on Friday, July 26th to do a pop up restaurant night with a French theme. I'll be offering canapés and three courses for £32.
Tickets can be purchased by leaving a 50% deposit and your email address at the cafe. Here's the menu:
Canapés on arrival
Choice of Scottish langoustine or steamed artichoke heart with salsa verde and a salad of crudités
Main
Your choice of Bouillabaisse with baton ficelle bread and rouille or
Savoury tart tatin of pears, figs and Brie de meaux
Dessert
A selection of hand made patisserie with creme anglaise and summer fruit
Anyone making a reservation will have to let us know what they want at the same time to keep ordering costs and therefore ticket prices down. More events planned for the rest of summer.
We call ourselves The Black Cat Bistro. Email me here or call on 07804 702221 if you want any more info. It should be a great night in the sun.
BrocSoc BBQ 2013
Brockley Society Barbecue, Friday 5 July, 7.30pm, Hilly Fields Stone Circle
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Bring friends and family – meet others from the Brockley area. Some food and refreshments are provided – and bring your own to cook on BrocSoc's large barbecue. All welcome!
Bring friends and family – meet others from the Brockley area. Some food and refreshments are provided – and bring your own to cook on BrocSoc's large barbecue. All welcome!
The Hilly Fields memorial tree
The Friends of Hilly Fields are raising money to pay for a memorial tree for former park keeper Keith Seabrook and anyone visiting tomorrow's Midsummer Fayre is welcome to donate. Rachel writes:
We had a few people wanting to contribute to the flowers, but didn't take them up on the offer, and thought it would be a longer lasting legacy to Keith to plant a tree. There are envelopes in the Hilly Fields cafe for anyone who would like to donate - you can hand it to a member of staff. We intend to plant the tree in November.
The tree will be the first that we plant as part of a bigger tree planting strategy to ensure a lasting tree legacy in the park. We'll have the outline of the tree strategy on our stall at the Midsummer Fayre. We'll also have our regular Hilly Fields Quiz (not sure how obtuse it will be this year, as I've not seen the questions, should I be worried), prizes donated by our park cafe, thanks to Ruth and Fred or a Hilly Fields mug.
The Hilly Fields Midsummer Fayre 2013
Net gain for Hilly Fields tennis
Patrick Bishop writes:
The Brockley Central Hilly Fields tennis net fundraiser generated an enormous amount of discussion, but it also generated a huge amount of generosity from Hilly Fields locals who read Brockley Central.
Together we successfully raised the money (nearly £300) for the nets which I bought last week. Readers suggested I contact the council and parks contractor who were very supportive too – unsurprisingly, they thought it was great! I handed over the nets to them earlier this week, and they put them up yesterday. So we now have the newest, shiniest tennis nets in Britain. I believe they’ve also given the court a good tidy up too.
Great to see that so many people chose to support the project and give generously. Someone also got in touch to suggest that we explore whether the council might be able to offer some kind of matched funding for these sorts of projects, which would definitely be interesting. There were also a number of suggestions about tournaments and ladders etc., all of which we should look in to, if it’s not already been done!
The Brockley Central Hilly Fields tennis net fundraiser generated an enormous amount of discussion, but it also generated a huge amount of generosity from Hilly Fields locals who read Brockley Central.
Great to see that so many people chose to support the project and give generously. Someone also got in touch to suggest that we explore whether the council might be able to offer some kind of matched funding for these sorts of projects, which would definitely be interesting. There were also a number of suggestions about tournaments and ladders etc., all of which we should look in to, if it’s not already been done!
Pop-up dining in Hilly Fields
Pop-up dining experience of the day is brought to you by Ali, who writes:
On Saturday 15th June the Deptford Diners (a group of SE4 and SE8 cooks and foodies) are hosting a pop-up supper in the gorgeous surroundings of the Hilly Fields Café (Pistachios in the Park). The three-course set menu includes a welcome glass of prosecco, home-made bread, salad and coffee:
- Goat’s cheese soufflé with beetroot & walnut salad
- Salt Cod with Cyprus potatoes, vine tomatoes, olives, peppers and garlic (vegetarian version available)
- Rhubarb & custard tart, crème fraiche, ginger nut crumb
Enjoy wine with your dinner at £12 a bottle – choose from a Vivacious Vinho Verdi or a Perfect Pinot Noir – cash on the night only please. Tickets are £30 and on sale in advance from the café and are selling fast! Places are limited so don’t miss out!
On Saturday 15th June the Deptford Diners (a group of SE4 and SE8 cooks and foodies) are hosting a pop-up supper in the gorgeous surroundings of the Hilly Fields Café (Pistachios in the Park). The three-course set menu includes a welcome glass of prosecco, home-made bread, salad and coffee:
- Goat’s cheese soufflé with beetroot & walnut salad
- Salt Cod with Cyprus potatoes, vine tomatoes, olives, peppers and garlic (vegetarian version available)
- Rhubarb & custard tart, crème fraiche, ginger nut crumb
Enjoy wine with your dinner at £12 a bottle – choose from a Vivacious Vinho Verdi or a Perfect Pinot Noir – cash on the night only please. Tickets are £30 and on sale in advance from the café and are selling fast! Places are limited so don’t miss out!
A History of Brockley - Part 9: Hilly Fields and Prendergast
This is the ninth part of Darrell Spurgeon's history of Brockley (click on the History tag for the series).
Hilly Fields. This large grassed mound reaches a height of 175 ft, with quite steep sides, and provides fantastic panoramic views on all sides, though some views towards Central and East London are blocked by tall trees, particularly in the summer.
Hilly Fields was acquired as a public park by the London County Council in 1896, after a local campaign (in which the housing reformer Octavia Hill played an important role) to preserve it from future development; by this time the school which dominates it was already there. West Kent Grammar School was built on a high point in 1885; the school is now Prendergast Hilly Fields College.
A path into Hilly Fields from the south end of Tyrwhitt Road passes on the left the Francis Drake Bowls Club, founded 1906. The club-house was rebuilt in 1947 after war damage. Note the magnificent and exotic gate, with swirling leaves around human silhouettes, and showing the words ‘Francis Drake Bowls Club 1906’; it was crafted by Heather Burrell 2008. The pathway continues with views west over Hilly Fields, past an enclosed but accessible garden, to Vicars Hill.
Near the top, to the east of the school, are the Hilly Fields Stones, a millennium stone circle and sundial created by The Brockley Society (project manager Polly Ionides) in 2000. The monument comprises 12 great granite boulders from Mount Struie, near Scotsburn (to the north of Inverness), which form an ellipse around a flat centre of Caithness flagstone, quarried at Watten, near Wick (in the far north-east of Scotland). The central flagstone is carved with the Roman numerals MM and a cross aligned with the cardinal compass points. Two tall standing stones, called St Norbert’s Gate, formed by cutting one Caithness flagstone down the middle, lead into the stone circle from the east. The granite is over 400 million years old, and the flagstone over 350 million years old. The stone circle is also a sundial, with the viewer’s shadow acting as a gnomon.
Prendergast Hilly Fields College, formerly called Prendergast School, occupies a high point almost in the centre of and dominating Hilly Fields. It is part of the Leathersellers Federation of Schools (see also Crofton Park, Prendergast Ladywell Fields College).
The school was built as West Kent Grammar School in 1885. The building was acquired by the London County Council in 1907 to become Brockley County School. Large and prominent extensions were built on the site in 1914 and 1921; an annexe to the south on Adelaide Avenue was added in the 1960s. Brockley County School closed in 1983, and the buildings became Hilly Fields Sixth Form Centre. The site was taken over in 1995 by Prendergast School, moving here from Catford, and in the next few years there were further extensions to the annexe on Adelaide Avenue.
Prendergast School (originally known as Lewisham Grammar School for Girls) was founded in 1890 at Rushey Green, Catford, under the will of Dr Joseph Prendergast, who had been Headmaster of Colfe’s Grammar School (for Boys), Lewisham. The original site for Colfe’s had been provided in 1634 by the Leathersellers, a City of London livery company; the Leathersellers provided the original site for Prendergast School in 1890, and funded its move to this location in 1995. The school became known as Lewisham Prendergast School in 1927, Prendergast School in 1951, and Prendergast Hilly Fields College in 2008. See also Crofton Park, Prendergast Ladywell Fields College.
The original building on the hill, built to the design of Charles Evans in 1885, faces north, and remains the most attractive part of the complex. It is an asymmetrical red brick building in Queen Anne style with Jacobean overtones. The grand entrance projects to the right, classical and pedimented with a balustraded top to the storey above; to its left is a distinctive group of stepped staircase windows. At either end are projecting gabled bays, and on the roof is an octagonal wooden bell turret.
Extensions to the south of 1914 and 1921 are larger and more dominant, in similar red brick and sympathetic, though rather more formal. But note the assembly hall to the east, added to the original building in 1914, with its great traceried east window; its interior is fascinating.
The interior is of special interest because of the murals and stained glass in the Assembly Hall. If you have a special interest in viewing these, contact the College by post or phone on 020-8690 3710 to request an appointment.
A staircase of 1914 leads from the entrance hall down to the Assembly Hall. Its interior has a hammerbeam roof and a gallery at the west end; it contains a remarkable series of murals of 1933-36, largely based on Aesop’s fables, as well as fine stained glass of 1890.
The murals are in large panels, raised six feet above the floor, three on the north wall and two on the south wall, and there are more murals on and under the gallery. The artists were students of William Rothenstein at the Royal College of Art, and the style picturesque, idealised and romantic, much influenced by Stanley Spencer. The panels on the north wall are: Fortune and the Boy at the Well by Cyril Mahoney, Joy and Sorrow by Cyril Mahoney, and The Country Girl and the Milk Pail by Evelyn Dunbar. The panels on the south wall are: The Bird Catcher and the Skylark by Mildred Eldridge, and The King and two Shepherds by Violet Martin. Along the front of the gallery is a long mural Hilly Fields by Evelyn Dunbar, featuring Hilly Fields with the school in the centre, allegorical figures at either end (one holding a plan of the school and the other a plan of Hilly Fields), and two panels above with schoolboys in rugby kit and school uniform. Under the gallery, the lunettes and spandrels are covered in murals by Evelyn Dunbar, and the ceiling in murals by Cyril Mahoney, the central one including trompe l'oeil plasterwork and roundels of bonneted figures.
Also in the hall are four tall illuminated stained glass panels of 1890 brought from the old Prendergast School at Catford - on the north wall male allegorical figures representing Art and Science, and on the south wall female allegorical figures representing Music and Dancing.
The school is accessed from Adelaide Avenue at the southern edge of Hilly Fields by Eastern Road. Going up the hill, at the boundary of the school site, are two low green gates incorporating street scenes and foliage, designed by pupils from the school and crafted by Heather Burrell c2006. Beyond, and on a sloping site to the right, is Hilly Fields Wood, a small nature reserve, normally open to the public.
Hilly Fields. This large grassed mound reaches a height of 175 ft, with quite steep sides, and provides fantastic panoramic views on all sides, though some views towards Central and East London are blocked by tall trees, particularly in the summer.
Hilly Fields was acquired as a public park by the London County Council in 1896, after a local campaign (in which the housing reformer Octavia Hill played an important role) to preserve it from future development; by this time the school which dominates it was already there. West Kent Grammar School was built on a high point in 1885; the school is now Prendergast Hilly Fields College.
A path into Hilly Fields from the south end of Tyrwhitt Road passes on the left the Francis Drake Bowls Club, founded 1906. The club-house was rebuilt in 1947 after war damage. Note the magnificent and exotic gate, with swirling leaves around human silhouettes, and showing the words ‘Francis Drake Bowls Club 1906’; it was crafted by Heather Burrell 2008. The pathway continues with views west over Hilly Fields, past an enclosed but accessible garden, to Vicars Hill.
Near the top, to the east of the school, are the Hilly Fields Stones, a millennium stone circle and sundial created by The Brockley Society (project manager Polly Ionides) in 2000. The monument comprises 12 great granite boulders from Mount Struie, near Scotsburn (to the north of Inverness), which form an ellipse around a flat centre of Caithness flagstone, quarried at Watten, near Wick (in the far north-east of Scotland). The central flagstone is carved with the Roman numerals MM and a cross aligned with the cardinal compass points. Two tall standing stones, called St Norbert’s Gate, formed by cutting one Caithness flagstone down the middle, lead into the stone circle from the east. The granite is over 400 million years old, and the flagstone over 350 million years old. The stone circle is also a sundial, with the viewer’s shadow acting as a gnomon.
Prendergast Hilly Fields College, formerly called Prendergast School, occupies a high point almost in the centre of and dominating Hilly Fields. It is part of the Leathersellers Federation of Schools (see also Crofton Park, Prendergast Ladywell Fields College).
The school was built as West Kent Grammar School in 1885. The building was acquired by the London County Council in 1907 to become Brockley County School. Large and prominent extensions were built on the site in 1914 and 1921; an annexe to the south on Adelaide Avenue was added in the 1960s. Brockley County School closed in 1983, and the buildings became Hilly Fields Sixth Form Centre. The site was taken over in 1995 by Prendergast School, moving here from Catford, and in the next few years there were further extensions to the annexe on Adelaide Avenue.
Prendergast School (originally known as Lewisham Grammar School for Girls) was founded in 1890 at Rushey Green, Catford, under the will of Dr Joseph Prendergast, who had been Headmaster of Colfe’s Grammar School (for Boys), Lewisham. The original site for Colfe’s had been provided in 1634 by the Leathersellers, a City of London livery company; the Leathersellers provided the original site for Prendergast School in 1890, and funded its move to this location in 1995. The school became known as Lewisham Prendergast School in 1927, Prendergast School in 1951, and Prendergast Hilly Fields College in 2008. See also Crofton Park, Prendergast Ladywell Fields College.
The original building on the hill, built to the design of Charles Evans in 1885, faces north, and remains the most attractive part of the complex. It is an asymmetrical red brick building in Queen Anne style with Jacobean overtones. The grand entrance projects to the right, classical and pedimented with a balustraded top to the storey above; to its left is a distinctive group of stepped staircase windows. At either end are projecting gabled bays, and on the roof is an octagonal wooden bell turret.
Extensions to the south of 1914 and 1921 are larger and more dominant, in similar red brick and sympathetic, though rather more formal. But note the assembly hall to the east, added to the original building in 1914, with its great traceried east window; its interior is fascinating.
The interior is of special interest because of the murals and stained glass in the Assembly Hall. If you have a special interest in viewing these, contact the College by post or phone on 020-8690 3710 to request an appointment.
A staircase of 1914 leads from the entrance hall down to the Assembly Hall. Its interior has a hammerbeam roof and a gallery at the west end; it contains a remarkable series of murals of 1933-36, largely based on Aesop’s fables, as well as fine stained glass of 1890.
The murals are in large panels, raised six feet above the floor, three on the north wall and two on the south wall, and there are more murals on and under the gallery. The artists were students of William Rothenstein at the Royal College of Art, and the style picturesque, idealised and romantic, much influenced by Stanley Spencer. The panels on the north wall are: Fortune and the Boy at the Well by Cyril Mahoney, Joy and Sorrow by Cyril Mahoney, and The Country Girl and the Milk Pail by Evelyn Dunbar. The panels on the south wall are: The Bird Catcher and the Skylark by Mildred Eldridge, and The King and two Shepherds by Violet Martin. Along the front of the gallery is a long mural Hilly Fields by Evelyn Dunbar, featuring Hilly Fields with the school in the centre, allegorical figures at either end (one holding a plan of the school and the other a plan of Hilly Fields), and two panels above with schoolboys in rugby kit and school uniform. Under the gallery, the lunettes and spandrels are covered in murals by Evelyn Dunbar, and the ceiling in murals by Cyril Mahoney, the central one including trompe l'oeil plasterwork and roundels of bonneted figures.
Also in the hall are four tall illuminated stained glass panels of 1890 brought from the old Prendergast School at Catford - on the north wall male allegorical figures representing Art and Science, and on the south wall female allegorical figures representing Music and Dancing.
The school is accessed from Adelaide Avenue at the southern edge of Hilly Fields by Eastern Road. Going up the hill, at the boundary of the school site, are two low green gates incorporating street scenes and foliage, designed by pupils from the school and crafted by Heather Burrell c2006. Beyond, and on a sloping site to the right, is Hilly Fields Wood, a small nature reserve, normally open to the public.
Raise a tennis packet for Hilly Fields
Patrick Bishop writes:
I’m a Hilly fields local, and work for JustGiving, who you have probably heard of – we’re an online fundraising platform.
I’m also a keen tennis player and regularly use the great free courts that we have on Hilly Fields. Anyone who plays on them, but if so, you’ll know that whilst the courts are great, the nets themselves are terrible and are completely broken and holey:
Unfortunately, the council haven’t got round to replacing the nets in years, so I’m looking to see whether as a community we can raise just over £200 to buy and install three new tennis nets!! I’ve just set up a project page on JustGiving to do this and I’d be very grateful for any help.
www.justgiving.com/local/project/hillyfieldstennisnets/
It’s worth saying that JustGiving Projects is a new tool that we’re launching to help people raise money for local community projects that they really care about (rather than just charities, which is our bread and butter). Given that the tennis court nets were something that I really wanted to get fixed myself, I thought I would set up a page myself and give it a go.
It’s worth pointing out that people just pledge to support a project, so unless the project gets fully funded, then you don’t donate anything!
I’m a Hilly fields local, and work for JustGiving, who you have probably heard of – we’re an online fundraising platform.
I’m also a keen tennis player and regularly use the great free courts that we have on Hilly Fields. Anyone who plays on them, but if so, you’ll know that whilst the courts are great, the nets themselves are terrible and are completely broken and holey:
www.justgiving.com/local/project/hillyfieldstennisnets/
It’s worth saying that JustGiving Projects is a new tool that we’re launching to help people raise money for local community projects that they really care about (rather than just charities, which is our bread and butter). Given that the tennis court nets were something that I really wanted to get fixed myself, I thought I would set up a page myself and give it a go.
It’s worth pointing out that people just pledge to support a project, so unless the project gets fully funded, then you don’t donate anything!
Jubilee Tree for Hilly Fields
George: It never ends, this present stuff! Engagement present! Then they get married, you gonna have to get them something for that! Then the baby, there's another present. Then the baby starts getting their presents. I don't even like Drake.
- Seinfeld
Time for another Jubilee bauble. BrocSoc writes:
22 May - gather from 12.45pm at the cafe on Hilly Fields, where we will be planting the Jubilee Tree donated by the Tree Council at Hilly Fields. Meet at the café from 12.45pm.
Students from Prendergast school will come out at 1.15pm for the ceremony. Several people from the Brockley 50+ Club, which meets at Brockley Social Club, will share some memories of the Coronation with us and then they and the students will plant the tree.
This is a prestigious occasion for Brockley as there will be only 60 trees throughout the country to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. A digital record of all 60 plantings will be presented to Her Majesty in June. The tree itself will have a smart plaque which will be readable from smartphones.
Please do join us -- Brockley Society tree officers, Friends of Hilly Fields, Seniors, and Prendergast School students -- for this special occasion.
- Seinfeld
Time for another Jubilee bauble. BrocSoc writes:
22 May - gather from 12.45pm at the cafe on Hilly Fields, where we will be planting the Jubilee Tree donated by the Tree Council at Hilly Fields. Meet at the café from 12.45pm.
Students from Prendergast school will come out at 1.15pm for the ceremony. Several people from the Brockley 50+ Club, which meets at Brockley Social Club, will share some memories of the Coronation with us and then they and the students will plant the tree.
This is a prestigious occasion for Brockley as there will be only 60 trees throughout the country to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. A digital record of all 60 plantings will be presented to Her Majesty in June. The tree itself will have a smart plaque which will be readable from smartphones.
Please do join us -- Brockley Society tree officers, Friends of Hilly Fields, Seniors, and Prendergast School students -- for this special occasion.
Dawn Chorus 2013
Tom from the Hilly Fields Bird Champion project writes:
This years dawn chorus walk will take place on Thursday April 11 starting at 6am. This is an hour later than usual (by public demand), but should still be close to dawn as the clocks went forward last weekend. We will meet outside the cafe on Hilly Fields, walk around the park and then go on to Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries which together are listed as a Grade 1 Site of Borough Importance for nature conservation purposes.
Birds we can expect to hear on Hilly Fields include Blackbird, Robin, Wren and probably one of the Dunnocks which have been vocalising frequently in the last few weeks. In addition, we should hear Magpies chattering, Crows crowing, Blue Tits/Long-tailed Tits tseeping and, almost certainly, that 'Johnny Two Note' - the Great Tit. If we're lucky, we may hear a Mistle Thrush singing (seen but not heard so far this year) or a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming its bill against a tree trunk.
Full details here.
This years dawn chorus walk will take place on Thursday April 11 starting at 6am. This is an hour later than usual (by public demand), but should still be close to dawn as the clocks went forward last weekend. We will meet outside the cafe on Hilly Fields, walk around the park and then go on to Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries which together are listed as a Grade 1 Site of Borough Importance for nature conservation purposes.
Birds we can expect to hear on Hilly Fields include Blackbird, Robin, Wren and probably one of the Dunnocks which have been vocalising frequently in the last few weeks. In addition, we should hear Magpies chattering, Crows crowing, Blue Tits/Long-tailed Tits tseeping and, almost certainly, that 'Johnny Two Note' - the Great Tit. If we're lucky, we may hear a Mistle Thrush singing (seen but not heard so far this year) or a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming its bill against a tree trunk.
Full details here.
