Park Ranger Julie Norman wins Fields in Trust Community Champion Award

FYLDE’S JULIE NORMAN NAMED FIELDS IN TRUST COMMUNITY CHAMPION FOR WORK AT PARK VIEW 4 U

Park Ranger wins award for her work engaging young people with nature
Ten awards announced at Fields in Trust Ceremony

QEII Park View Playing Fields’ Park Ranger, Julie Norman, has been recognised at the Fields in Trust Awards for her work engaging young people with nature. The Lytham green space worker was named Fields in Trust Community Champion at a ceremony at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.

The Fields in Trust Community Champion Award celebrates the efforts of those who go the extra mile to champion their local green spaces through encouraging others to get involved and enhancing the spaces for users.

Julie was nominated for the Award following her years of tireless effort improving the park for the local community. As part of her work she regularly coordinates and runs school visits, introducing the children to nature through nature walks, bug hunts and a myriad of other fun and exciting activities. Julie also runs nature-based sessions for a local day care group and a weekly health walk in the park, as well as a variety of clubs including a gardening club, herbalist club and a Wildlife Watch Club.

Julie’s work has helped the park’s aims of increasing social cohesion and encouraged the idea that physical activity can be fun. She is always keen to demonstrate the diverse range of activities available at the park and to promote ‘natural’ play for children who visit.

Speaking after receiving her Award at the Ceremony at Lord’s Cricket Ground, Julie Norman said: “I am absolutely delighted and quite overwhelmed to win this award. I am very happy to accept it on behalf of the community of Lytham and Park View who are the most enthusiastic people to work with. I love my job and feel proud to play a small part in the fantastic work that Fields in Trust do. Park View will be there for the community forever.”

Fields in Trust Chief Executive, Helen Griffiths, said: “The work of Julie, and the hundreds more like her across the county, is vital to ensuring local green spaces remain true community assets. The Fields in Trust Awards help recognise the role that parks and other green spaces play in our communities, bringing people together and creating a safe outdoor environment that everyone should have access to no matter where they live. We believe that as a nation it is time to revalue these green spaces and consider the positive impact they have on our physical, mental and social health and well being and the savings to the public purse they represent in terms of preventative medicine.

“Congratulations to Julie on her well deserved award and thanks to her and all those outstanding individuals across the UK who go the extra mile for their local green spaces.”

Also shortlisted for the Fields in Trust Community Champion Award were Elaine Kite and Anne Slough from Mile End Park in Tower Hamlets, Roger Thomas from Loughor Rovers AFC in Swansea and Peter Watts from Modbury Association of Recreation & Sport in Devon.

Fields in Trust Community Champion was one of ten awards given out at the Awards Ceremony. Rouken Glen Park in East Renfrewshire was named UK’s Best Park, as voted by YOU! 2016 following a public vote which saw over 10,000 votes cast for more than 200 local green spaces nominated by their users. Other awards included Best Athletics Project on a Fields in Trust Site, supported by England Athletics and parkrun, Fields in Trust Young Champion, supported by Groundwork and Most Improved Fields in Trust Site.

The Fields in Trust Awards, now in their fifth year, are a celebration of the achievements of individuals and organisations who have worked over the last year to ensure that everyone has access to protected outdoor recreational space.

Fields in Trust is a national charity whose mission is to ensure that everyone – young or old, able-bodied or disabled and wherever they live – should have access to free, local outdoor space for sport, play and recreation.

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For media enquiries, please contact Richard McKeever, Fields in Trust Communications Manager, e: richard.mckeever@fieldsintrust.org, t: 0207 427 2117, m: 07940 072832

NOTES TO EDITORS

• -The Fields in Trust Community Champion Award was open to any individual who has worked to make a difference and engage people on a site protected with Fields in Trust.
• -The Fields in Trust Awards Ceremony took place on the evening of Wednesday 30^th November at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. The evening was hosted by BBC broadcaster Jill Douglas.
• -Fields in Trust protect over 2,600 sites across the UK, covering over 30,000 acres.
• -Park View Playing Fields was protected with Fields in Trust in 2012 as part of the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge, which protected spaces in perpetuity in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee.

ABOUT FIELDS IN TRUST

Fields in Trust is a national charity that operates throughout the UK to safeguard recreational spaces and campaign for better statutory protection for all kinds of outdoor sites.

Founded in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association by King George V, their mission is the same now and as it was then: to ensure that everyone – young or old, able-bodied or disabled and wherever they live – should have access to free, local outdoor space for sport, play and recreation. These spaces are vital to building happy and healthy communities and sadly continue to be threatened by all kinds of development.

www.fieldsintrust.org