On 30 January 1936 upon the death of King George V, the then Lord Mayor of the City of London set up a committee to consider what form a national memorial to the King should take. In March 1936, the committee decided that there should be a statue in London and a philanthropic scheme of specific character that would benefit the whole country and be associated with King George V’s name.
As a result, in the November of that year, the King George’s Fields Foundation was constituted by Trust Deed to give effect to the scheme.
The aim of the Foundation was “to promote and to assist in the establishment throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland of playing fields for the use and enjoyment of the people, every such playing field to be styled ‘King George’s Field’ and to be distinguished by heraldic panels or other appropriate tablet medallion or inscription commemorative of His Late Majesty and of a design approved by the Administrative Council”
The trust deed defined a ‘Playing Field’ as “any open space used for the purpose of outdoor games, sports and pastimes.”
Our King George’s Field is situated along the Crick Bridle Road, and is identified by a pair of heraldic panels on the gate posts at the entrance to the field.
The field was historically used as the Village cricket pitch, but the use as such is now much reduced due mainly to the now excellent facility at the Village Hall. There were also there at one time children’s play equipment which also was removed due to decay and lack of use. The old cricket pavilion that was there (over 100 years old we understand) was, on a Parish Council initiative and with the help of several volunteers, successfully moved to its new site at the Village Hall and has been renovated and put back into use.
The Parish Council are very keen to get this facility back into regular use, recently trees were planted around the perimeter from a Daventry District Council initiative who supplied the trees, but we do understand that access to the field by families is poor and difficult due to the state of the road and we are hoping in the future to address this and make it more accessible and to bring it back into use.
We welcome ideas from the community as to what we can do with the field to encourage its further use, to make it a part of the village activity again for the enjoyment of all.
Please note that horses and motorbikes/quads are NOT permitted in the field.