Royal honour for Shrewsbury schoolchildren as Princess Anne checks in at Shropshire outdoor charity

Shropshire-based environmental education charity The Field Studies Council announced The Princess Royal as the charity's royal patron earlier this year.

The charity, headquartered at Preston Montford near Shrewsbury, 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.

In a specially arranged visit on Tuesday (July 8), Princess Anne was met by the Deputy Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire Sir Edward Tate as she arrived at the field centre in Montford Bridge and was introduced to users of the centre by charity chief executive Mark Castle and his senior team.

"We were absolutely delighted to host the Princess Royal here and to officially welcome her as our new charity patron," said Mark. 

"Each year we cater for more than 100,000 young people at our centres and today 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, introduced Anne to a group of pupils from the Marches Academy Trust who were onsite taking part in various outdoor activities including a climbing session. 

The students are regular visitors to the centre and actively help with practical projects onsite from tree planting to building bug hotels. Nature connection and time spent outdoors is helping to re-engage them with learning. 

"It was a real honour to meet the Princess Royal today. I’ve never met a royal before. She asked lots of questions and seemed incredibly interested to learn about what we do here," said Arran.

“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.”

Becks Evans, assistant headteacher in charge of behaviour at Shrewsbury Academy, said the experience and meeting a member of the royal family had meant the world to the students.

"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 today about the time they spend here at the Field Studies Council. They’ve absolutely loved it," she said.

After meeting students, teachers and staff the Princess 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 runs educational courses, art and leisure courses, natural history courses and professional training courses.