The Village Field Trust
The registered charity responsible for protecting, maintaining and improving Darrington Village Field for the benefit of the community.
Our purpose
Darrington Village Field is cared for through Darrington Village Field Trust — not by Wakefield Council, the Parish Council or by the Church.
The Trust’s purpose is to provide and maintain the playing field and play equipment for public use in Darrington. It works to keep the space welcoming today while protecting it for future generations.
How the Trust works
Trustees carry the charity’s formal responsibility, but caring for the Field and delivering its events is a shared effort involving a fantastic committee, wonderful local people, trusted contractors, community organisations and businesses.
Regular grass cutting, twice-yearly hedge cutting, litter picking, weeding and general inspections keep the Field welcoming. Trustees undertake some work, contractors handle specialist maintenance and local people help with jobs such as benches, gates and entrances.
The Trustees conduct monthly playground and exercise-equipment checks, looking for damage, failures, loose or missing parts and vandalism. Issues are followed up with specialist suppliers, whilst an independent formal inspection is carried out once a year.
Behind the scenes, the Trustees perform all the governance: creating and updating policies, managing accounts and finances, ensuring adequate insurance is in place, maintaining licence compliance, conducting risk assessments, managing suppliers, evaluating and prioritising projects, event planning and the Trust’s reporting responsibilities to the Charity Commission.
The income needed to maintain the Village Field is generated by the Feast & Fayre, Five Mile Run and Bonfire Night. These community events ensure that routine maintenance is carried out, whilst larger projects can be planned and costed.
The work behind event day
Each event depends on people giving time steadily in the weeks and months beforehand, followed by an intensive effort to set up, run and clear away safely.
Recent projects have included removing a large diseased tree, installing a path along one side of the Field, fitting new gates and gateposts, and investing £75,000 in new play equipment.
Event equipment also needs periodic investment, from cooking equipment and awnings to signs and other practical essentials.
Potential projects include new picnic tables, paths along two more sides of the Field and a new surface at the main entrance.
The Trust is moving from reacting to immediate needs towards identifying priorities, formalising event and financial management, and agreeing how the Field should evolve over the next three to five years.
Working together
The Trust’s work reaches well beyond the trustees. Different parts of village life contribute equipment, skills, performances, communication and practical support.
Farm representatives contribute through the committee, provide tractors and vehicles, supply straw-bale seating and organise much of the produce sold at Feast & Fayre.
The school takes part in Feast & Fayre with its own stall and a traditional Maypole-dancing performance.
Darrington Parish Council attends Feast & Fayre and helps publicise Village Field activities through its newsletter.
Darrington Village is very lucky to have a whole host of people with skills who contribute to the maintenance and improvement of the Village Field.
Trustees
The Trust currently has three trustees. Familiar names are used here; formal names remain available through the Charity Commission register.
Trustee
Trustee
Trustee
Our story
Darrington Village Field was acquired for the community in the 1970s, with Darrington Village Field Trust registered as a charity on 13 January 1977.
That same year was Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee and, in celebration, the community came together to hold a fayre on the Field, with people from the village dressed in Edwardian costumes. The event helped inspire what became the Feast & Fayre, with the Edwardian Lady remaining a symbol of what community spirit can create.
We continue to grow memories of the Field’s history, so if you have any photographs, documents or memories that you can share, feel free to contact the Trust and we can look to add them to our heritage.
Share a piece of Field historyAccountability
Darrington Village Field Trust is registered charity 505756. Formal details, trustee information and submitted accounts are available through the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
