Tag Archive for: Celebrate

Celebrate ‘Have a Field Day’ 2019

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Celebrate ‘Have a Field Day’ 2019: UK green space charity, Fields in Trust, is inviting people to take part in a national celebration of parks and green spaces on “Have a Field Day”, Saturday 6th July. Thousands of people across the UK will come together once again this summer for picnics with their friends and neighbours, to celebrate the green spaces that are so special to the local communities who care for them.

Community events in parks are a great way to connect with our neighbours and celebrate our local communities. With the clocks springing forward, people across the UK are looking forward to getting outdoors this summer and enjoying their local green spaces – Have a Field Day provides the perfect opportunity.

Celebrate 'Have a Field Day' 2019

Research published by Fields in Trust demonstrates that using local green spaces improves physical health and mental wellbeing and that access to green space leads to people feeling healthier, happier and becoming more active as a result. However, it is not just better health – recent reports and publications from government departments have repeatedly referenced the importance of parks and green spaces in reaching many public policy goals; including:

  • The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government’s Integrated Communities Action Plan which identifies the importance of parks and green spaces as spaces where people can meet, mix and strengthen local connections
  • DEFRA’s 25-year Environment Plan, which includes proposals to improve air and water quality, enhance wildlife habitats and use green spaces to improve public health and wellbeing.
  • The Government’s Childhood Obesity Plan references “limited access to green spaces” as a contributory cause and encourages local authorities to “…ensure access to quality green space to promote physical activity”.
  • The value of parks and green spaces is also referenced in DCMS’s “Civil Society Strategy”, as well as their “A Connected Society” plan where the value of parks in tackling loneliness is discussed.

Fields in Trust are inviting people to plan a summer picnic. Have a Field Day on Saturday 6th July is an opportunity for people to champion their local parks and green spaces by enjoying spending time in them, at the same time as connecting with neighbours and friends in joining a movement of fellow park users across the UK. These green spaces are good, they do good and by championing them through Have a Field Day people can help to protect them for good.

Fields in Trust Policy Manager Alison McCann said: “Our research shows that parks and green spaces have an important role in society and can help to transform lives. These are spaces where communities can come together, tackling social isolation and loneliness, as well as contribute to improved mental and physical health and help to tackle the childhood obesity crisis. However, first and foremost they are places for play, sport and recreation; Have a Field Day is a way to celebrate all the positive things we love about the UKs parks and green spaces”

Fields in Trust was founded by King George V in 1925 and is a UK charity that actively champions parks and green spaces by protecting them in perpetuity. Over 2,800 spaces have been protected since our foundation. In 1934 – 85 years ago – the first Playing Fields Day was held; Have a Field Day is the current version of this earlier commemoration.

Held every year on the first Saturday in July, Have a Field Day in 2018 saw an estimated 30,000 people across the UK come together to celebrate their parks and green spaces. Over 100 events ranged from small community picnics to large parties and fetes. In 2019 park users are again encouraged to champion their local green spaces with picnics as well as events which reflect how the spaces serve their local communities and 2019 is already set to be even bigger.

If you are planning a Have a Field Day picnic in your park on Saturday 6th July 2019, visit the Fields in Trust website, www.fieldsintrust.org, to find out more and sign-up. All registered picnics will receive a free support pack through the post including bunting, posters and activity cards.

Participating in Have a Field Day is a way for communities to champion their green spaces, call for their protection from development and raise awareness of the positive impact they have on our health and wellbeing.

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JCB Celebrate Apprentices Record

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JCB Celebrate Apprentices Record: A record-breaking group of JCB apprentices had two reasons to celebrate at the launch of National Apprenticeships Week on Monday (March 4th).

A total of 79 apprentices were awarded their apprenticeship certificates – at the same time as getting coveted contracts of employment with the Staffordshire-based digger maker.

JCB Celebrate Apprentices Record

The group is the biggest in the history of JCB to graduate as Level 2 and 3 apprentices in a single year. They received their awards from JCB directors at a special graduation ceremony at JCB’s World Headquarters, Rocester.

JCB has a long history of recruiting apprentices and this year marks 55 years since the first intake of nine completed their training and were presented with their apprenticeship certificates by company founder Joseph Cyril Bamford.

JCB Chief Executive Graeme Macdonald said: “New talent joining the business is fundamental to JCB’s future growth and success; our business is growing rapidly and the apprentices are an important part of our plans for the long term.  Over the past five years JCB has invested £30 million into its training programmes with more than 700 new recruits joining the business as apprentices or graduates. Their commitment to learning has been exemplary and their hard work has paid off with the award of full-time contracts.”

JCB Director of Learning and Development, Max Jeffery said: “The apprentices who have been awarded full-time contracts range from age 18 to 38 and include a former professional rugby player, pub landlord and cleaner as well former students from the JCB Academy. The diversity of this year’s graduating apprentices shows this is a great route into a new and promising career – no matter what your background, age or experience.”

Apprentices offered contracts include:

  • Adam Parkins, 29, from Alfreton, Derbyshire. Married with four young children, he left school aged 16 to pursue a professional rugby career with Premiership clubs Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints, where he remained until he was 27.  He is now a welder and assembler working on the iconic JCB Loadall production line, at Rocester.
  • Wesley Hemmings-Topliss, 19, from Burton. Having studied a BTEC at college, the former Thomas Alleynes High School, Uttoxeter, student found work as an office cleaner at JCB. He saw his friends studying apprenticeships with the company and decided he wanted a career making the machines too. He is now a welder in the JCB Hydraulic Business Unit, at Rocester.
  • Tom Clarke, 29, from Stafford, a former team leader at Screwfix, Stafford, where he was in charge of almost 100 people. Tom has become JCB’s first Level 2 Health and Safety Apprentice with the company’s Loadall division, at Rocester.

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Machinery Imports Celebrate Successful SALTEX

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Machinery Imports Celebrate Successful SALTEX: The team from T H WHITE Machinery Imports were delighted to support the IOG and attend the 2018 SALTEX event again last week, held at the Birmingham NEC on 31st October and 1st November.

The two-day exhibition was attended by over 300 exhibitors and several thousand visitors, with the Machinery Imports stand, representing Ferris, Wright, Spider and Jensen brands dominating the space as the second-largest exhibitor stand in the whole venue.

Machinery Imports Celebrate Successful SALTEX

With an open space stand of 175m2 visitors to the stand were able to see a range of machinery from the Ferris, Wright, Spider and Jensen brands all in one place, with a large team on hand to answer any questions and talk to visitors about the machinery on display in detail.

Taking centre-stage on the stand was a large suspension demonstration unit from Ferris. Featuring a Ferris IS®2100Z on top, the suspension unit was able to show visitors exactly how the patented Ferris IS® suspension technology works on uneven terrain, with staff able to explain in more detail the benefits of the suspension on comfort, productivity, safety and machine longevity. As the only commercial zero-turn mowers in the world with full suspension, Ferris models including the new, compact 400S, launched in 2018, and the EFI Petrol engine powered IS®3200Z, were proudly on display alongside popular stand-on and pedestrian Ferris machines.

Launching at SALTEX was the new Ferris ISX®800Z, a 27hp petrol engine zero-turn mower with 52” rear-discharge deck, which garnered much interest throughout the show. The real innovations in the ISX®800Z were clear for all to see, introducing a new-to-the-industry double wishbone suspension system for an even smoother ride, as well as double belt drive system under the deck for extreme reliability and extended belt life.

Also launched at the event was the new prototype X Line from Spider, their smallest commercial mower to date at just 1m3 with an integrated winch enabling mowing on slopes and dangerous terrain up to 55°. Displayed on an angled stand, visitors were able to see the X Line in detail and up close, before it officially enters the market in the UK from Spring 2019 onwards. Other models on display included the ever-popular Spider ILD01 and low-profile 2SGS, designed for mowing under and around solar panels.

From Jensen, the original woodchipper brand established in Germany in 1884, visitors were presented with a selection of 3 popular chippers from the range including the A530 petrol towed machine, which at just 750kg can be towed with a standard, full UK driving licence. The A530L Diesel model was also highly popular at the show, alongside the exciting A530XL tracked chipper, which with a 150mm capacity and powerful 37hp diesel engine can make light work of timber and brash, clearing up to 15m3 per hour. The Jensen tracked system which can come either as fixed, adjustable or independently adjustable ‘Spider’ tracks, offers unrivalled stability and access for those harder-to-reach spaces such as slopes, embankments, uneven or unstable terrain.

Finally, visitors were welcomed to by representatives from the Wright team, who flew over from the USA specially, to see a range of Wright stander mowers including the Sport I and Stander I. Wright produced the world’s first stander mowers in 1997 and are the leading manufacturer of high quality, stand-on mowers in the world. Visitors were interested to stand and sit on the Wright mowers, testing the comfort and user-friendliness, as well as the easy-to-use spring-loaded height of cut adjuster which surprised guests with its effortless transition ability.

Judith Ross, Regional Sales and Marketing Manager at Wright, commented: “Working with the Machinery Imports sales team at SALTEX 2018 was a productive and informative experience. Wright values our partnership with Machinery Imports as a supplier of premium commercial equipment in the UK. SALTEX provides an important venue for industry-wide sharing of best practices and services in the green industry.”

The team were pleased to not only meet new and existing customers and dealers but also showcase the brands on film with the teams from SALTEX TV and Turf Matters who both visited the stand during the event. Not only that, popular YouTuber John Ryan who set up the Lawncare Legends social groups for groundcare professionals took time to visit the stand and film some of the machinery for his upcoming projects.

Machinery Imports Divisional Director, Tim Lane, was really pleased with the success of the show for the business, commenting:

“We were delighted to attend SALTEX again this year supporting the IOG and hosting a large stand space encompassing all four of our premium brands. The Machinery Imports team worked tirelessly throughout the event to highlight the exceptional range of machinery we have available to meet the customers’ every need, as well as showcasing our new innovations to the market through product launches from Spider and Ferris.

We are looking forward to speaking with all the stand visitors again over the coming weeks and months at demonstrations and meetings to discuss working together further in 2019.”

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Celebrate UK Parks and Green Spaces

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Celebrate UK Parks and Green Spaces: 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 the Fields in Trust charity’s “Have a Field Day” campaign on Saturday 7th July.

As the heatwave continues Britain is set for an elite sporting weekend with Wimbledon, England’s World Cup Quarter-Final and the women’s cricket One Day International against New Zealand. Summer weekends like this inspire young people to get out in the park, emulate their heroes and aspire to be part of the future of sport.  Every sporting superstar started their journey in a local park or green space – Have a Field Day recognises the importance of these spaces to our communities – and to the nation.

Celebrate UK Parks and Green Spaces

Over the weekend park users, Friends of parks groups and community organisers will join a movement, championing the green spaces that are so special to them. Have a Field Day is a day to enjoy your local park with friends, family and the community. These self-organised local events across the UK will take many different forms: perhaps a party in the park, a sports day, a village fete, or maybe joining with neighbours to enjoy a Have a Field Day picnic. But this is not simply fun in the sun – recent research by Fields in Trust demonstrates that parks and green spaces across the UK provide people with over £34 billion of health and wellbeing benefits. The research Revaluing Parks and Green Spaces demonstrates National Health Service savings of at least £111 million per year based solely on prevented GP visits by regular park users.

Fields in Trust Chief Executive, Helen Griffiths, said: “At a time when parks and green spaces are under threat Have a Field Day is the opportunity to celebrate their value and their proven physical and mental health benefits. These are valuable places; places where we can all move, breathe, run and play. We need to champion and support these precious spaces by protecting them for people to enjoy in perpetuity. Because once lost, they are lost forever.”

Events taking place on Have A Field Day are expected to be as varied as the parks that will be hosting them, from small picnics amongst neighbours to large summer fetes with thousands in attendance.

One such event will be at Stanley Park in Blackpool, last year’s winner of the UK’s Best Park, as voted by YOU! award run by Fields in Trust, where around 3,000 people are expected at a family fun day. The event, part of Blackpool’s Wordpool Festival will include arts, outdoor reading, pop-up cinema and much more.

On a smaller scale, Friends of St George’s Park in Kidderminster will celebrate their tenth anniversary with a family picnic and games. The park was given to the people of Kidderminster in 1927 and in July 2013 was protected in perpetuity with Fields in Trust as a Queen Elizabeth II Field, ensuring it will always remain a green space for the local community.

Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, the Friends of Starbank Park will welcome hundreds to their Bubble Festival and picnic including face painting, chalk drawing, old-fashioned games, fun races, storytelling and refreshments.

Heritage is a theme which underpins the Have a Field Day campaign, with the first Saturday in July marking the date Fields in Trust was founded by King George V at the Royal Albert Hall in 1925. Throughout the 1930’s a series of Playing Fields Days helped raise funds towards the organisation’s work, and eight decades later some events will be fundraising for Fields in Trust as part of their events.

Whilst Have a Field Day takes its roots from the past, it is very much about the future of our public parks which are at a critical juncture. Research has found that 92% of local authority park departments have experienced budget cuts in the past three years and that between 2014 and 2016 a total of 214 playgrounds were closed by 65 local authorities across the UK. Yet despite the cuts parks and green are a much-loved heart of many local communities.

Fields in Trust’s research calls for a revaluing of our parks and green spaces as a resource which contributes to public health, mental wellbeing and community cohesion, not simply being viewed as a drain on council finances for upkeep.

Have a Field Day is championing our green spaces, calling for their protection from development and raising awareness of the positive impact they have on our communities.

Inspired? Get involved with Have a Field Day by:

  • Hosting an event this Saturday! It’s not too late to register and receive your free support pack through the post including bunting and our ‘Top Ten Tips’ inspiration card.
  • Tweeting about why your local green space is so special to you using #LoveYourLocalPark
  • Finding your nearest Fields in Trust protected space
  • Saving the date for Have a Field Day 2019 – Saturday 6th July!

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