News & Comment | Fields in Trust

As well as the news reported here, we can provide expert comment and analysis for broadcast, print and online media about the UK’s parks and green spaces and the impact they have on building happy and healthy communities. Please get in contact to make an enquiry about our Media spokespeople.

COMMENT: Parks and Green Spaces - an invaluable asset?

18th February 2019

In the latest of our Fields in Trust staff blogs, Policy Manager Alison McCann responds to the announcement by Secretary of State, James Brokenshire MP of £13M in additional funding for parks and green spaces.

A Look Back On 2018

30th December 2018

This has been a busy year for Fields in Trust and the parks and green spaces sector as a whole. Here we take a look back on some of the highlights and events of note from 2018.

CHAMPION: One year in the life of the UK's Best Park

28th December 2018

In our first guest blog Elaine Smith MBE, Chairman of The Friends of Stanley Park and the Salisbury Woodland, discusses one year in the life of the UK's Best Park.

POLICY: Valuation in Practice

7th December 2018

In the latest of our Fields in Trust staff blogs, Policy Manager Alison McCann reflects on our commissioned piece of research, Revaluing Parks and Green Spaces, from earlier this year.

PROTECT: Reflecting on Remembrance

18th November 2018

In our latest staff blog our Head of Programmes, Angela Lewis, looks back on the World War I commemorations and discusses the legacy our Centenary Fields programme is leaving.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Fourteen

11th November 2018

All the stories from the final week of our Centenary Fields Legacy campaign which featured spaces from each of the four home nations.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy and the Commonwealth

9th November 2018

Six of the spaces featured as part of Centenary Fields Legacy have links to those from Commonwealth countries who fought for and with the British Army in World War I.

COMMENT: Prevention is better than cure

6th November 2018

Alison McCann responds to the publication of the new NHS strategy which focuses on prevention.

PROTECT: Spaces across the UK marking Armistice centenary

5th November 2018

Centenary Fields across the UK will be holding remembrance events this week to mark the centenary of the end of World War I.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Thirteen

4th November 2018

A round-up of all the stories from the thirteenth week of Centenary Fields Legacy, which featured spaces which are or include memorials to the fallen.

PROTECT: Telling the stories of the Centenary Fields Legacy

3rd November 2018

Ahead of the conclusion of our Centenary Fields Legacy campaign in our latest staff blog our Digital & Campaigns Officer, Jamie Grubb, looks back on putting the campaign together and reflects on some of the stories it has told.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Twelve

28th October 2018

As we move to within a fortnight of the centenary of the Armistice, this week our Centenary Fields Legacy campaign featured spaces covering the length and breadth of the UK – from Cornwall to the Highlands and from Norfolk to Antrim.

COMMENT: Budget 2018 - investing in our parks and green spaces

26th October 2018

In our latest staff blog Fields in Trust's Policy Manager, Alison McCann, looks ahead to Monday's Budget statement and the importance of supporting parks and green spaces to achieve multiple policy agendas.

PROTECT: Securing our memorial spaces in perpetuity

25th October 2018

As we approach the centenary of the Armistice, in our latest staff blog our Head of Programmes, Angela Lewis, discusses our Centenary Fields programme and the importance of ensuring our memorial spaces remain protected in perpetuity.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Eleven

21st October 2018

This week our Centenary Fields Legacy campaign passed its three-quarter mark, meaning there are now over 70 stories on our interactive map of spaces which are protected forever.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Ten

14th October 2018

As our Centenary Fields Legacy campaign moves into its final month, this week all the spaces featured served the ongoing war effort by a variety of means.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Nine

7th October 2018

The completion of the ninth week of our Centenary Fields Legacy programme means that 100 years ago the Great War was just five weeks from its conclusion.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Eight

30th September 2018

This week our Centenary Fields Legacy campaign passed its half-way point, marking 50 days since the start of the 100 Days Offensive a century ago.

PROTECT: Kensington Memorial Park marks mid-point of Centenary Fields Legacy

26th September 2018

Today our Centenary Fields Legacy campaign reaches its mid-point by featuring Kensington Memorial Park. It was at this space two years ago that Fields in Trust’s President, HRH The Duke of Cambridge unveiling a Centenary Fields plaque.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Seven

23rd September 2018

It is estimated that around 70 million military personnel were mobilised during World War I with around 20 million deaths and a further 21 million wounded as a direct result of the conflict.

PROTECT: Parks protected in perpetuity to support community activities

21st September 2018

Four UK parks are set to benefit from £100,000 of investment which will encourage local people to get active in their local park. Capital grants from The London Marathon Charitable Trust have been awarded through the Active Spaces programme.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Six

16th September 2018

Remembrance is much more than just 11am on Sunday 11th November each year, and as our Centenary Fields Legacy campaign is showing, marking the events of 100 years ago can take many forms.

COMMENT: Creating a healthy, happy environment to live

14th September 2018

Frequent use of parks and green spaces is good for you, fact. But how many of us visit these free to use spaces on a regular basis?

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Five

9th September 2018

Many acts of memorial to those who fought and fell in World War I were carried out in the years that immediately followed the end of conflict, with the personalities who didn't return still in the memories of those they left behind.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Four

2nd September2018

With the fourth week of our Centenary Fields Legacy programme now complete the interactive map is starting to fill up with spaces all across the UK protected in perpetuity in memory of the millions who lost their lives during World War I.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Three

26th August 2018

The third week of Centenary Fields Legacy has featured seven spaces with contemporary links to World War I.

CHAMPION: Engaging young people with heritage parks

23rd August 2018

Fields in Trust has partnered with green space charity, Groundwork and The National Youth Agency, to launch 'Future Proof Parks', a £900k National Lottery-funded programme that will support Friends of parks groups and local young people

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week Two

19th August 2018

During the second week of Centenary Fields Legacy we have focussed in on the years which immediately followed the conclusion of conflict and the local efforts to remember those who fell.

PROTECT: Centenary Fields Legacy Week One

12th August 2018

Fields in Trust this week launched our Centenary Fields Legacy campaign, where each day we'll be featuring one space protected as part of the Centenary Fields programme in memory of those who lost their lives during World War I.

PROTECT: Marking the Centenary Fields Legacy

8th August 2018

As we begin our Centenary Fields Legacy campaign Fields in Trust Head of Programmes, Angela Lewis, discusses what will be happening over the coming weeks.

PROTECT: 80 years on from the first King George’s Field

16th July 2018

Today, 16th July, marks the 80th anniversary of the legal protection of King George V Playing Field in Sonning, Berkshire, identified as "the first field" of the 471 contained within the Final Report of the King George's Fields Foundation.

CHAMPION: Thousands enjoy Have a Field Day fun in the sun

11th July 2018

An estimated 30,000 park lovers across the country enjoyed a fun filled day at the park on Have a Field Day on Saturday 7th July. Hundreds of events took place right across the UK from small community picnics to large parties and fetes.

PROTECT: Local MP unveils latest Centenary Fields plaque in Lancashire

5th July 2018

Brindle Community Hall and its surrounding recreational land became the fifth space protected in Lancashire as part of the Centenary Fields programme last weekend.

CHAMPION: Have a Field Day and celebrate the UK’s parks and green spaces

4th July 2018

Thousands of people, in hundreds of communities across the UK, will come together this weekend to celebrate local parks and green spaces as part of Have a Field Day on Saturday 7th July.

CHAMPION: Explore your local green space with Go Jauntly

28th June 2018

Fields in Trust are delighted to be partnering with Go Jauntly, an app which helps everyone discover local walks and adventures.

POLICY: Don’t let the sun set on our parks

22nd June2018

On the first day of summer, the UK's political leaders were asked to champion the UK's parks and green spaces.

GREEN SPACES FOR GOOD: Establishing a new corporate strategy and identity

21st June 2018

Fields in Trust's new logo has been public since we launched our new strategy last month, so it is timely to examine the reasons why we reviewed and updated our visual identity and branding.

PROTECT: Continuing the King George's Fields Foundation legacy

11th June 2018

16th July marks the 80th anniversary of the legal protection of The King George V Playing Field at Sonning in Berkshire in 1938.

CHAMPION: Saying thank you to green space guardians this Volunteers’ Week

6th June 2018

As this year’s Volunteers’ Week draw to a close, here at Fields in Trust we want to say our thank you to those green space guardians who go the extra mile for our nation’s parks and green spaces.

POLICY: Revaluing Parks and Green Spaces in Wales and Scotland

23rd May 2018

Earlier this month we launched “Revaluing Parks and Green Spaces” our innovative research measuring the economic and wellbeing value that parks and green spaces contribute to individuals.

CENTENARY FIELDS: Remembering the past, protecting the future

18th May 2018

In the latest in our series of blogs, Fields in Trust Development Manager, Terry Housden, writes about the work of our Centenary Fields programme protecting war memorial parks and their legacies from a century ago.

CENTENARY FIELDS: Birch Gardens latest space in Staffordshire protected

14th May 2018

Birch Gardens in Leek has become the latest space in Staffordshire protected as part of the Centenary Fields programme.

RESEARCH: New research shows UK parks and green spaces generate over £34 billion of health and wellbeing benefits

7th May 2018

New research from Fields in Trust demonstrate that parks and green spaces across the United Kingdom provide people with over £34 billion of health and wellbeing benefits.

Fields in Trust condemn council plans for virtual parks

1st April 2018

Sunday 1st April 2018 Fields in Trust Chief Executive, Helen Griffiths, has hit out at reported plans by one town council to sell its green space and instead provide residents with "permanent parks" through virtual reality headsets.

COMMENT: Revaluing our parks and green spaces

15th March 2018

Fields in Trust Chief Executive, Helen Griffiths, comments on a trio of recently published reports into parks and green spaces and looks ahead to Fields in Trust's own forthcoming research report.

COMMENT: New planning proposals must reflect the value of parks and green spaces

7th March 2018

This week Prime Minister Theresa May announced a major overhaul to the National Planning Policy Framework, "to provide a comprehensive approach for planners, developers and councils".

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