The Deben Quiz 2020 with answers

By Julia Jones

At the time of writing (Jan 2021) many families are involved – willingly or not – with home schooling. The RDA editorial team decided to join in and set this quiz to check whether you’ve been reading your Deben magazines and RDA Journal articles carefully. All the answers will be found in magazine issues 60 & 61 and in RDA Journal articles between September and December 2020. The magazines and the Journal articles are all on this website and no different answers will be accepted. If it ain’t there, it ain’t right!

Anyone can do this quiz – answers will be posted on the RDA Journal site next Friday (Jan 29th)

You can complete it on paper, at home, with your family, however you like. If, however, you are a paid-up RDA member and think you have most of the answers right, then you are welcome to fill in an entry form <here> and submit it BY 10.00pm Thursday JAN 28th which will email your entry to membership secretary Moray . You’ll then be in with the chance of a book prize, chosen by you from the list at Golden Duck Ltd.

There are 5 sections, 10 points available in each.

SECTION ONE : People, Places and History

  1. Who are these people? (you can either give their names or their jobs)


  2. What was John Loder’s profession?
  3. Who built Bawdsey Quay & why?
  4. Where would you find the Arab Quarter?
  5. What % of the population died in the Black Death of 1348-9 and which profession may have been at highest risk?
  6. Which female archaeologist was involved with the Sutton Hoo excavation in 1939?
  7. Who founded the River Deben Association & was its first vice-chairman?

Answers:

  1. Tony Lyon (Waldringfield harbourmaster) / John Cresswell & Guy Comber of Felixstowe coast patrol + 2 members HM Coastguards
  2. Bookseller
  3. Sir Cuthbert Quilter / to bring in coke and coal for Bawdsey Manor
  4. Waldringfield (beach huts)
  5. 50% / Parish priests as they had to give Extreme Unction to the dying
  6. Peggy Piggott
  7. Annie Healey

SECTION TWO: Environment & Conservation

  1. What’s happening in these photos (what’s their purpose)?

  2. What’s the water quality status of the Deben? Name one of the problems identified
  3. How many micro-plastic particles are estimated to come out of one fleece jumper on his first wash?
  4. When were the river walls first built?
  5. Where is flood cell 12? Flood cell 7?
  6. What’s a copepod
  7. What happens if sewage system is overloaded (eg after heavy rain)

Answers:

  1. Fish Survey / Flood management (to prevent flooding at Debenham)
  2. Quality Status: Moderate / Problems: Too many phosphates, Not enough fish
  3. 700,000
  4. 16th century
  5. FC 12 Martlesham Marsh /  FC 7 Kings Fleet
  6. Small crustacean
  7. Flows into the river

SECTION THREE: Wildlife

  1. Can you name these?

  2. Who’s been munching number (ii)
  3. Why is the silting-up of the river good news for birds?
  4. The Deben is a special protection site for two types of birds, can you name them?
  5. What do lapwings eat?
  6. What’s the furthest country from which teal migrate to the Deben?
  7. When would you expect to see a barn owl?
  8. Why can’t little egrets feed in deep water?

Answers:

  1. Black-tailed godwit / Fly Agaric
  2. Slugs
  3. More for waders to eat
  4. Over-wintering avocets and dark bellied brent geese
  5. Beetles and earthworms
  6. Siberia
  7. At dusk
  8. Beaks can‘t reach the bottom

SECTION FOUR: Watercrafts, Yards & Clubs

  1. Identify these types of boat

  2. Where does Arthur Ransome’s former yacht Nancy Blackett lay up for the winter?
  3. Which sailing club specializes in cats?
  4. Name four types of craft designed to be moved by paddle-power
  5. What was Marie’s first job and what does she do now?

Answers:

  1. Cadet dinghy / WW2 landing craft
  2. Robertson’s boatyard
  3. Felixstowe Ferry SC
  4. Canoes, kayaks, coracles and SUP (stand-up paddle board)
  5. Herring trawler / Floating stage for folk music events

SECTION FIVE: Books, Arts & Beauty

  1. Who were the 2020 Deben cover artists?

  2. Who wrote The Lost Village of Ramsholt?
  3. Shoot for the Moon / Radio Mothership  / One Line at a Time all represent different types of creativity. What are they?
  4. What item of boat equipment inspired composer Ian Chambers to make music for BBC R3?
  5. Two books of walks published in time for Christmas 2020?
  6. RDA Chairman’s advice: How can you leave ‘a legacy of beauty’

Answers:

  1. Issue 60 – Sara Johnson / Issue 61 – Claire Fried
  2. Robert Simper
  3. Photography (Gill Moon) / Electronic music (Jan Pulsford) / Sketching (Claudia Myatt)
  4. Halyards
  5. Walking the Deben by Nick Cottam / The Suffolk Coast by Gill Moon
  6. ‘Begin thinking like a river’

If you have any queries about this quiz please email – [email protected]