William Unveils Centenary Fields Plaque

[PrincessOfPeace]

Prince William launches WW1 parks scheme in Coventry

Video: BBC News - Prince William launches WW1 parks scheme in Coventry

[TLLK]

^^^Thank you for the video PoP. Nice to see that open spaces are being protected so that all can have the use of them for "quiet reflection and active play."

[PrincessOfPeace]

The royal marks the 100 year anniversary of World War One at the 'Centenary Fields' program. Rough cut (no reporter narration)

Prince William gets sporty | Video | Reuters.com

[Rebound]

Interesting that he's playing tennis with his right hand. I thought he was totally left-handed. He must be a little ambidextrous.

[TLLK]

Good eye Rebound. He is playing with his right hand.

[cinrit]

A Message from The Duke of Cambridge About Fields in Trust's Centenary Fields Campaign

As President of the charity Fields in Trust, I had the privilege of being in Coventry's War Memorial Park to launch their Centenary Fields Programme, the charity's initiative to safeguard war memorial parks up and down the country from ever being lost to residential or commercial development in the future. Our aim is to protect one memorial field in each local authority district in the country as a way of creating a living legacy of the Great War centenary commemorations. The plan is not terribly complicated - there will be a memorial field that already exists near you - nor is it particularly costly, but it does require support. 

The unprecedented horrors of the Great War touched neighbourhoods in this country in a way that we can barely imagine these days, even for those of us who have served in the Armed Forces. War memorials for the first time became part of our national landscape: crosses, statues, plaques - you will know where your nearest is. But some communities were even more ambitious, setting aside fields for recreation in memory of those who had fallen.

No response could ever be adequate to the scale of death, but these spaces could - in a very modest way - give expression to the freedom for which men had fought, or at the very least to a sense in which men had died so that the world of the living would become a better, more peaceful, place. The spaces were living memorials, spaces for reflection and enjoyment, stillness and activity.

More: Speech

A Speech by HRH The Duke of Cambridge at the Launch of the Fields in Trust Centenary Fields Programme in the War Memorial Park, Coventry

World War One continues to inspire us – one hundred years on – to undertake acts of remembrance for men and women otherwise long forgotten. 

One of the most obvious manifestations of remembrance which continue to touch us today is the countless war memorials up and down the country. Most are typical: stone crosses or statues, surrounded by the names of the young men who never returned home. But some were more ambitious, and none more so than the plots of land which were set aside by communities as spaces of remembrance.

These spaces were designed to encourage both stillness and movement, inward reflection and outward play. In short, places where freedom may be expressed with such ease.

More: Speech

Cindy

[PrincessOfPeace]

Prince William visited Coventry's War Memorial Park on Wednesday and although the reason for his visit was a very sombre one, it appears that the Duke was also put through his paces on the tennis court too.

William was in Coventry in his role of President of the Fields in Trust to announce that the War Memorial Park will be the first green space in the UK to be dedicated as part of the charity's Centenary Fields programme, in order to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.

More: A grand slam for Prince William in Coventry

[PrincessOfPeace]

Fields In Trust ‏@FieldsInTrust 21 mins

We've uploaded photos from the launch of Centenary Fields by The Duke of Cambridge to our flickr account - take a...HRH The Duke of Cambridge launches Centenary Fields - an album on Flickr