PATRON: Celebrating the Platinum Jubilee of HM The Queen
This year marks 70 years since the accession to the Throne of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Throughout that time The Queen has served as our Patron having taken on the role from her father and our founder, HM King George VI, and we are very grateful for the active support Her Majesty has given us over the last seven decades and beyond.
This year we will be joining with fellow organisations and communities across the country in celebrating this landmark anniversary. It is not just the Platinum Jubilee that we shall be marking this year, however, as 2022 also marks the tenth anniversary of the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge.
The Challenge was established to celebrate Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee as well as leave a lasting legacy from the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Landowners across the country answered the call to secure the futures of their parks and as a result there are now 1,388 spaces protected forever as Queen Elizabeth II Fields (Queen Elizabeth Fields in Scotland). These stretch the length and breadth of the UK, from the most northerly Gilbertson Park in Lerwick, Shetland to the most southerly Breage Playing Field in Helston on the tip of Cornwall via Sandy Bay Playing Fields in Larne and Brynmill Park in Swansea.
In June 2012, Her Majesty unveiled the commemorative plaque at Vernon Park in Nottingham, with each protected Queen Elizabeth II Field receiving a similar plaque. The Queen's support of our cause long pre-dates the Challenge, however, with her having taken an active role even before formally taking on the Patronage in 1952.
If you see a plaque like this at your local park, it means it is one of 1,388 Queen Elizabeth II Fields and is protected forever for your local community to use and enjoy.
Her husband, His late Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, took on our Presidency in 1947 and the then Princess Elizabeth attended numerous fundraising events and field openings to support the work of Fields in Trust during the early years of his Presidency. Her support continued with a string of King George V Playing Field openings in the 1950s and further visits to protected green spaces in the years since.
Throughout 2022, we will be celebrating and saying thank you for this immense contribution Her Majesty has made to our cause. As the calendar of Jubilee events get underway, we're encouraging all Queen Elizabeth II Fields to get involved with the Queen's Green Canopy initiative.
The Queen's Green Canopy is inviting people to "planet a tree for the Jubilee" to create a legacy not just of Her Majesty's 70 years on the Throne but also for future generations. We know that local parks and green spaces make a vital environmental contribution, from capturing harmful carbon, to supporting wildlife and boosting biodiversity, to aiding water management and air quality. Planting trees to celebrate the Jubilee will further enhance this environmental contribution the network of Queen Elizabeth II Fields across the UK already make to our communities and our planet.
Please encourage the landowner or managing organisation of your local Queen Elizabeth II Field to get involved in the Queen's Green Canopy initiative. You can find out who they are and how to contact them by visiting the park's page using our Fields Finder. Just enter your postcode to get started and find out your nearest spaces.
If you are a landowner, managing organisation, community or Friends of group then you can find out more information about the Queen's Green Canopy initiative, ways to get involved and how to apply for a free tree sapling. The tree planting season runs until March and commences again from October.
We hope you will join us in celebrating the immense contribution of our Patron, HM Queen Elizabeth II, throughout this year. To keep fully up to date, make sure you are signed-up to receive our monthly e-bulletin, which will include news and updates on all our activities this year and beyond.
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