A Shropshire-based charity which provides outdoor education to thousands of schoolchildren has officially welcomed Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal as its new patron.
The Princess Royal toured the headquarters of the Field Studies Council at Preston Montford, near Shrewsbury and met with young people who were on site for outdoor learning.
The environmental education charity operates a network of field study centres and works with schoolchildren right across the UK – engaging some of the most deprived young people in outdoor learning and giving them access to nature.
Her Royal Highness, who was named as Royal patron of the charity earlier this year, was met by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire Sir Edward Tate and introduced to users of the centre by chief executive Mark Castle and his senior team.
Mark said: “We were absolutely delighted to host The Princess Royal and to officially welcome her as our new charity patron. Each year we cater for more than 100,000 young people at our centres and it’s been wonderful for some of those users to share their excitement of learning outdoors with royalty.
“All of our work is focused on creating outstanding and memorable opportunities for everyone to learn about nature – whether you’re five-years-old and at primary school or 80-years old and retired. We want people to have first-hand experience of nature – we want people to study it, enjoy it and be excited about what our natural world has to offer.”
During the visit, The Princess Royal met charity trustees, senior management, centre managers from across the UK, education team leaders, hospitality, catering, office and maintenance staff who play a pivotal role in keeping the charity’s centres fully operational.
Arran Holdsworth, centre manager for Preston Montford which also doubles up as the charity’s headquarters, introduced Her Royal Highness to a group of pupils from the Marches Academy Trust who were on site taking part in various outdoor activities including a climbing session.
The students are regular visitors to the centre and actively help with practical projects on site from tree planting to building bug hotels. Nature connection and time spent outdoors is helping to re-engage them with learning.
Arran said: “It was a real honour to meet The Princess Royal. I’ve never met a royal before. She asked lots of questions and seemed incredibly interested to learn about what we do here. The students were very excited, which was great to see, and they chatted at length when she asked questions. It’s been a really good day.”
Henry Arnold , 14, a Year 9 pupil at The Grove School, Market Drayton, was among the students. He said: “I was so looking forward to today. Ahead of the visit, I researched Her Royal Highness, and I discovered she was from a farming background like me, so I was interested to talk to her about that. She asked me about my family farm. It was so nice to meet her.”
Becks Evans, assistant headteacher in charge of behaviour at Shrewsbury Academy, said meeting a member of the royal family had meant the world to the students.
She said: “They’ve been buzzing for weeks. They’ve been Googling Princess Anne and finding out what they can about her, and they were really proud to talk to her about the time they spend here at the Field Studies Council. They’ve absolutely loved it.”
A group of 29 visiting pupils from Grantham Prep School near Nottingham were also on-site as part of a three-day residential trip. They were learning about biodiversity and taking part in a bug hunt when Her Royal Highness arrived. Rounding off the tour of the grounds, The Princess Royal was introduced to a final group of students from Droitwich Spa High School. They were on a three-day residential trip learning vital fieldwork skills as part of their A-Level Biology course.
After meeting students, teachers and staff Her Royal Highness joined charity president Professor Tim Burt to unveil a plaque marking the official charity patronage.
Gifts including locally grown flowers by the Shropshire Flower Company and a complete set of the charity’s wildlife identification guides were given before The Princess Royal departed.
Founded more than 80 years ago, the Field Studies Council, is the UK’s leading environmental education charity. It runs educational courses, art and leisure courses, natural history courses and professional training courses. It delivers a number of projects across England, Wales and Scotland, works in partnership with other key charities and operates a Grants for Schools scheme to ensure opportunities for outdoor learning are accessible to all.
CAPTION: HRH The Princess Royal chats to teachers and students during her visit to Preston Montford.
