Interesting Facts about FIT

  1. It receives absolutely no funding from Westminster - it relies 100% on voluntary donations
  2. Its smallest protected fields both with an acreage of 0.01 are at Collier's Lane, Wool and Rose Farm, Anning Road, Lyme Regis both in Dorset.
  3. Its largest protected field is a park in Enfield which is 126 acres.
  4. The City Farm on our King George field in Birmingham abounds with cows sheep and wildlife
  5. The majority of the field at Five Mile Town in Northern Ireland is made up of water - a lough.
  6. Lakeland Hounds are trained on the field at Glenridding/ there is a dog show every year on the field at Glenridding.
  7. The river KG Haverthwaite us a SSS1
  8. Trig point on the field at Milden in Suffolk
  9. Mediaeval fishponds on Chertsey
  10. Archaeological dig on field at Eynsham - roman ruins, pottery coins
  11. Add a dozen to a score and you get the number of fields that FIT wants to protect under its FIT for Gold intitative.
  12. Tug of War training machine at King's Somborne
  13. Tractor is a bright pink Z-Car that tows the gang mower
  14. President's certificates are given
  15. Nomination rights to one Torch Trophy a year
  16. The First Annual report of the NPFA lists its members of the Executive Committee as 43 in total, made up of 38 men and 5 women; the marital status of the men and the Dame were unknown, but the other 4 ladies were all single, and all called ‘Miss'. The 43 included 3 Members of Parliament, one member of the Lords and 2 local Councillors; there were 6 Knights of the Realm and 1 Dame; the army was well represented by 1 Brigadier -General, 1 Colonel, 2 Lieutenant-Colonels and 4 Majors but neither the Navy or the Royal Air Force had past or present members in the Committee; there was a whole range of other honours including the Military Cross, the CBE and the OBE and there were 5 Justices of the Peace. The most interesting name was R W ffennell, that is no capital letter but 2 es, 2 fs, 2 Ls and 2 ns!
  17. Though the NPFA has always focused on outdoor facilities for sport and play, we have also supported pioneering indoor leisure initiatives. The Harlow and District Sports Centre Trust was set up in April 1959. The country's first indoor community sports centre was soon a reality, managed by a young, visionary ex-teacher, the late George Torkildsen, who was also to become a trustee of the NPFA. The NPFA was prominent in providing technical help from the outset and the first big ‘break through' came when the NPFA gave a grant of £21,000 for the first phase, the equivalent of £327,000 today.
  18. An evening with the Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, was the star auction prize at a fundraising Bid for Bachelors evening in the eighties.
  19. The longest after-dinner speech record was achieved by Gyles Brandreth who was the Chairman of the NPFA, in at a fundraiser in aid of the organisation. He spoke for twelve and a half hours.
  20. Just six year after being founded, the NPFA was awarded "La Coupe Olympique" by the IOC - a non-competitive award started by the games founder Pierre de Courbertin, . It is awarded to an institution or association with a general reputation for merit and integrity which has been active and efficient development of the Olympic Movement. It has recently been won by the people of Sydney