Since we acquired the piece of land to the west of the arch we have been busy trying to make it accessible to the public. The worst of the brambles have been cleared and a large amount of old iron and concrete blocks have been collected into heaps.

There is still a lot more clearing to do including removing rusty old fenceposts and other hazardous features. Once the ground is clear and the dead trees removed the land will be leveled to some extent, filling in holes and creating safe walkways around the site.

Please bear with us whilst this work is undertaken and do not enter the site until we deem it safe to open to the public. Once this is all done we can get on with the interesting work of planting new hedges and trees creating a wooded area in contrast to the open meadowland on the rest of the fields.

When ready the fences will be removed and the land will become an extension of the Monument Field with the Priory remains at its centre.

We are proud to announce that Priory Fields has yet again been awarded the Green Flag Award for being a well managed and welcoming green space. It is therefore very disappointing to have to say that certain elements of the community do not appreciate the efforts of all those who give up their time to improve and maintain this oasis of tranquility within the village. Following vandalism to our flagpole and the theft of this year’s Green Flag, we have now repaired the pole and replaced the flag with a new one as shown here. The time and money spent fixing this problem is something we could well do without as there are far more useful ways of using our valuable resources.

We recently hosted a fun run which was held to raise funds for the Little Havens Hospice in memory of local girl Bella.

Although the fields were very wet and muddy this did not seem to put anyone off, in fact some of the younger participants achieved three laps of the course around the perimeter of the fields, passing the arch in the process.

This was followed by refreshments and a raffle in the Village Hall which all together raised a very worthwhile amount for the charity.

A big thank you to everyone who bought tickets.  We especially want to thank all those who generously donated prizes making this our most successful raffle yet.

We have started planting the 70 trees, sponsored by members of the community, to celebrate the 70 year reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

The holes have been pre dug using a hired hole borer, saving time and effort on planting days. On Saturday 10th December the first 23 trees were planted but on the following day the ground was frozen hard so the others have been dug into a sheltered trench to be planted when conditions improve.

Those who sponsored the other trees will be informed when planting is to go ahead.

Tickets are now available for our Christmas Raffle from the Village Stores or any member of the Friends.

We would also greatly appreciate any donations of prizes.

We are all greatly saddened by the news of the death of Her Majesty the Queen.

Many people especially children have left bouquets by the lowered flag on Priory Fields. If you wish to add your tribute please bring it along, there is plenty of space.

The Green Flag has been replaced at the entrance to the fields, for one week only, by the Union Flag to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

If you wish to plant a tree to celebrate the Jubilee or any other person or event, we shall be taking donations for our Plant a Tree for the Jubilee scheme at the Parish Jubilee Picnic on Saturday 4th June. You can choose from a variety of species to be planted in the autumn/winter.

The Country Fayre held on Sunday 12th September was very well attended and not only by local people. Visitors could browse a variety of stands selling a wide range of food and drink and crafts, not to mention the dog show, the blacksmith, Kelly’s turkey incubator, a silver band and many more.

The Friends of Priory Fields stand had a display showing the history of the priory and of the fields together with explanations of what we do and wide variety of nature that can be found on the fields.There was also a display of the equipment used by our volunteers.

For children there was a Nature Hunt where they had to find pictures of animals hidden around the fields in exchange for a small prize. The most popular attraction for the small children was undoubtedly choosing a name for the cuddly badger and a draw for his animal friends.

The event was great for our publicity and also raised some cash to add to our funds. Thanks to everyone who came along and we hope you had a very enjoyable afternoon.

We are pleased to announce that the Old Bridge, that partially collapsed in January 2020, has been fully repaired and is now open to the public again. This bridge forms an integral part of most people’s route around the fields and was also designed to take the weight of the hay cutting machinery and any equipment required for maintenance of the Arch.

The work was carried out very efficiently by a local firm, MJB Contracts, who we would thoroughly recommend.

It has taken rather longer than we hoped to get the repair completed, for which we apologise, but it takes time to raise the funds and there was also a pandemic that got in the way. The work was made possible due to the generous donations made to our fund by many local people and topped up by the Parish Council, we would sincerely like to thank you all.

We hope you like being able to make full use of the fields again and enjoy all the wild flowers before the hay cut in July.