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.