The Kent County Playing Fields Association was formed in 1926 and its fundamental objective throughout has been to ensure that there are adequate facilities for recreation in every city, town and village in Kent and to encourage the provision, improvement, retention and use of playing fields, children’s playgrounds and other recreational centres.
In pursuit of this objective, the Association will co-operate with such organisations and groups as necessary to secure the provision of new facilities and to safeguard existing facilities that may be under threat.
The Association has a strong membership that is committed to achieving its Object. The extent to which the Association is able to assist with the achievement of its Object, however, is dependent upon the level of financial assistance it receives year-on-year. If you would like to support the Association, please complete the application form on their website and send it to the Hon. Treasurer as stated.
Kent County Playing Fields Association’s own website is at http://www.kentpfa.org.uk
The KCPFA's Autumn Newsletter
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The latest Newsletter from the Kent County Playing Fields Association notes that progress continues to be made in all aspects of the Charity’s work.
One item from the Newsletter refers to Members contributingto the Association’s appeal on behalf of Ashford Town Cricket Club where, at the end of August, the BBC South East news programme featured a robbery at the club. Thieves had vandalised the clubhouse and stolen copper piping and destroyed toilet and shower facilities. A long standing Trustee, Malcolm Hawkes suggested to the Management Committee that KCPFA set up an Emergency Appeal. Throughout September, many donations were received and by the end of the month £815 had been raised.
A further £250 from the Ernest Virgo Fund, set up in memory of a former President of the Association and dedicated to young cricketers, was given.
On the 11th October, Chairman of Ashford Town Cricket Club Mr Neil Tegg received the Association’s cheque for £1065 at Cantium Lodge, Maidstone from Secretary Paul Peacock. Mr Tegg said the club were extremely grateful to the KCPFA and its Members.
The full Newsletter can be downloaded from here.
The Playing Field’s Association is in part sponsored by Sapphire Water Softeners and their advertising flyer can be downloaded from here.
Sport England - latest from "the pitch"
Forty eight sports playing fields across England are to be protected and improved in the first wave of National Lottery investment by Sport England’s Protecting Playing Fields legacy fund.
The announcement comes as communities across the country are invited to bring the 2012 legacy to life in their area by bidding for support for a local playing field through the second £2 million round of Protecting Playing Fields.
Applications for the second round can be made between 24 October 2011 and 12 December 2011, with community and voluntary sector groups able to apply without partnership funding.
More than £2 million of National Lottery funding has been offered to sports clubs and local groups in the first round to bring disused playing fields back into use, improve existing sites or create new sports pitches. A further £8 million will be awarded to hundreds more projects through the four remaining funding rounds.
“These investments will transform the local pitches where many young people have their first experience of sport,” said Richard Lewis, Sport England’s Chair. “With all of the playing fields safe from development for at least a generation, communities across England can look forward to years of sporting enjoyment.”
Protecting Playing Fields is part of the Places People Play legacy programme to bring the inspiration and magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities all over the country.
“When we speak about leaving a lasting legacy from hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games it’s about offering people more opportunities and better facilities to play sport, and protecting playing fields is central to this ambition,” said Hugh Robertson MP, Minister for Sport and the Olympics. “Thousands of sportsmen and women will now benefit from Sport England’s Protecting Playing Fields legacy fund seeing improvements to existing sites and bringing disused community playing fields back into use.”
Among the funding offers of between £20,000 and £50,000 are:
• £50,000 to drain and level Tufnell Park Playing Fields in Islington, the London borough with the fewest playing fields. In partnership with Islington Council, which is contributing £85,600, this project will allow the pitches to be used twice as often, benefiting mainly junior and women’s football teams.
• £50,000 for Cobham Sports Association in Surrey, where work will begin next week to turn a derelict golf driving range into three new multi-sport grass pitches, doubling the playing field provision at the club. That means more football, more lacrosse and more rugby union for local residents. The club is putting in £70,000 to the project.
• £49,000 for the OSCA Foundation, a charity in a deprived area of Halifax, West Yorkshire, which will take over ownership from the local council of a playing field where 90% of matches currently get cancelled because of water-logging and other issues. Following improvements, including enlarging the pitches, they will be used for rugby league in the summer and football in the winter.
All 48 playing fields will also be protected from developers for at least 25 years[1], creating an enduring benefit for sport. And 27 will become Queen Elizabeth II Fields after agreeing to dedicate their playing field in “perpetuity”. This is thanks to a partnership with Fields in Trust (FIT) which is running the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge as part of the programme to mark the Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics.
“This fantastic investment into grassroots facilities in England will help to ensure that neighbourhoods can participate in sporting activities at all levels for years to come,” said Alison Moore-Gwyn, Chief Executive of Fields in Trust. “We are delighted to see that over half of these playing fields will also be protected in perpetuity as part of the permanent legacy that the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge will create in tribute to the Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympics.”
More than half of the groups benefiting from Protecting Playing Fields are community sports clubs while six are playing field associations, five are parish councils and three are schools or colleges. The awards also include the purchase of five playing field sites totalling 25 acres and 13 pitches.
By simplifying the application process and reducing the technical expertise required to bid, the funding has been opened up to groups that haven’t previously received public money. Almost half the successful bidders (23) in the first round are first-time applicants.
Protecting Playing Fields builds on the work Sport England already does to safeguard playing fields as a statutory consultee on all planning applications affecting a sports playing field.
To find out more about the Protecting Playing Fields fund or to submit an application for round two, visit sportengland.org /funding
Save A Space For Me
FIELDS IN TRUST
Fields in Trust is the only independent UK wide organisation dedicated to protecting and improving outdoor space for sport, play and recreation. Formed in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association we aim to ensure that everyone - young or old, able or disabled and whether they live in an urban or rural area – has access to free, local facilities for healthy outdoor activities. Playing fields have a vital role to play in creating healthy communities helping not only to increase physical activity but also to foster social cohesion and improve the local environment.
THE QUEEN ELIZABETH II FIELDS CHALLENGE
Kent Cricket Board is delighted to be participating in The Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge, led by the Duke of Cambridge, to mark the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. We are working with Fields in Trust towards their goal to protect 2012 outdoor recreational spaces by 2012 as a permanent, tangible legacy from both the Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics.
Outdoor recreational spaces are vital to creating happy and healthy communities and can help to increase participation in physical activity, reduce anti-social behaviour and promote volunteering.
SAVE A SPACE FOR ME
If you like getting out into the fresh air, having a kick about in your local park or just seeing a bit of green space then mark this date in your diary! On 18 October, for four weeks only, you can visit www.qe2fields.com and show your support for your local green spaces. The Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge is campaigning to get local authorities and landowners to protect your outdoor spaces for future generations to enjoy. Go online, search for your favourite places or see which ones you like a look of and with one click, you can show you support them.
So get ready for 18 October and get clicking to say ‘Save a Space for Me!’.
To show your support or to engage in volunteering activities on this field/these fields please visit www.qe2fields.com
System Manager
Here is the list of those who have self-certified themselves as having cricket facilities; some are more formally laid out than others:
• Addington Recreation Ground
• Mereworth Recreation Ground (Mereworth Parish Council)
• Sherwood Cricket Club, Rochester
• Stone Recreation Ground, (Stone Town Council) Dartford
• Stonehouse Field, St Mary’s Platt (Platt Parish Council) (a new field purchased to become a cricket pitch)
• Tenterden Recreation Ground (Tenterden Town Council)
• Wateringbury Recreation Ground (Wateringbury Parish Council)
• Wingham Recreation Ground (Wingham Parish Council)
• Wombwell Park, Northfleet (Gravesham Borough Council) (subject to public vote – this is currently trailing behind the other two contenders put forward by Gravesham)
The Spring 2011 Newsletter
The Spring 2011 newsletter of the Kent County Playing Fields Association has been published and you can download it from here.
The Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge
2012 is an exciting year in the UK with two great events scheduled: Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics.
The Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge, headed by its Patron Prince William, is a fantastic programme to protect 2012 playing fields in communities all across the country as a permanent living legacy of these landmark occasions.
The Challenge
The Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge is a project aiming to secure the protection of 2012 playing fields and outdoor spaces for sport, play and recreation across the UK to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June 2012. Under the patronage of Prince William the project is being delivered by the charity Fields in Trust, which is the only independent organisation in the UK dedicated to protecting and improving such facilities.
The Challenge aims to halt the demise of local sports and recreation facilities and place community cohesion and participation in physical activity at the top of the agenda. Fields in Trust will seek to achieve this by working with national sports governing bodies, media, Local Authorities and other landowners, and engaging the public in a vote of support for sites to become protected as a Queen Elizabeth II Field (Queen Elizabeth Field in Scotland). The period since 1992 has seen the demise of 6,000 playing fields mainly to development and this project creates a unique opportunity for the ECB to join in helping to secure the long term future and sustainability of sites which are recognised as priorities for grassroots community cricket.
The Benefits
Protection as a Queen Elizabeth II site will: -
• safeguard against the loss of grassroots cricket facilities and community playing fields
• create new opportunities for investment and future funding for improvements e.g. access to Sport England’s £10m Grant Fund of National Lottery funding for protection and improvement of playing fields as part of the Places, People, Play 2012 Legacy Programme
• provide a platform to increase participation in cricket
• engage local communities in a high profile celebration of 2012
Participating
Fields in Trust is currently seeking nominations from Local Authorities, landowners and sports clubs for suitable sites which will go into a public vote to create the Queen Elizabeth II Fields network.
We can help by:
• Sports clubs and other private landowners can submit their outdoor recreational spaces to the Challenge by contacting Fields in Trust on info@fieldsintrust.org or on 020 7427 2110.
For further information go to http://www.qe2fields.com or FIT Fields at Trust-fields@fieldsintrust.org which is an email address.