The NT’s activities provoke National Distrust
Dear Editor,
I find myself in the ‘Slough of Despond’; I’ve just subscribed to Restore Trust because I’ve encountered stories of the wanton vandalism and ‘Wokism’ rife within the organisation that I love, which makes me really want to weep.
My enthusiasm for the National Trust was imbued during my childhood years through numerous visits to Trust properties with my family; the same can also be said for my wife. We were brought up in different parts of the country – I in Devon and she in Cheshire – but the Trust's ethos was the same in both. The property and its history was sacrosanct and the visitor was always welcome. Indeed the two were symbiotic and we relied on knowledgeable guides of all ages to fill the gaps in our historical knowledge and to regale us with anecdotes.
My wife and I have just returned to England, having lived in Germany for a number of years. (There too we both found visiting heritage sites a joy: we would enjoy visiting castles as far dispersed as Marienburg, near Hanover, and King Ludwig II’s Neuschwanstein, in Bavaria.) We come back to England to find the National Trust run by money-orientated wokery-mongers, who, to all intents and purposes, couldn’t give a damn about history, or about those who have contributed to it and their magnificent legacy.
Their main worries seem to be:
How many cars can we pack into the newly paved-over car park on historic grounds?
How much money can we make?
Where should we make cuts in staffing to cut costs?
Is there another sign we can erect or gesture can do to show our solidarity with the woke activists?
The National Trust management now seems more intent on finding ways to sell land and property donated IN PERPETUITY – what part of 'perpetuity' do they not understand? Some might call it misappropriation when an item is donated on the understanding that it will be maintained in perpetuity and then sold for CASH: I wonder in what other context anyone might be able to get away with such a blatant disregard for a written agreement?
All this, of course, provokes a National DIStrust and how on earth do they expect anybody to trust them with any future donations?
The Trust's management seem more concerned that it apologises for the past, than that it conducts itself here and now in a right and proper manner, such as through maintaining properties for posterity as it is meant by law to be doing: not turning homes into museums because, although it might have escaped their attention, we already have museums! We want to see homes; we want to experience how the other half lived; we want to see the social divide, no matter how socially divisive it was; that’s how it was. We want to see the real Upstairs, Downstairs and feel the stories behind them. If we wanted museum-style exhibits, that’s exactly where we would go: museums. It would also be a joy to see tenants of certain establishments allowed to live as per legacy and treated in a right and proper manner.
Our confession is that our daughter bought us a Trust card of quite a high value but we have been so loath to visit anywhere because of the in-fighting and excessive wokism being displayed by the poor, benighted staff that we have instead spent the majority of it on hot chocolate and cakes during regular visits to the Sticklebarn pub at the Dungeon Ghyll in the Lake District: a sad reflection, again, on the hierarchy.
In summary, we have a crowd of seeming vandals determined to damage the whole ethos of the Trust and who have slid insidiously into positions of power within the walls of this magnificent organisation, and who are completely unqualified for their placements. This can be judged by their willingness to inflict excruciating embarrassment on customers with their absurd gender-neutral toilets which were installed without consultation of members, and the subsequent ludicrous distribution of much-needed funds in totally the wrong direction.
My question to the 'Management' is: if you have a different agenda; if the Trust is not at the very heart of all that you do and care about, but instead a hidden and apparently malignant agenda...why are you there? Should you not change your name to just the ‘National’? Because the ‘Trust’ has completely evaporated.
We will never re-join.
Kenneth Pedrick
Ceredigion, West Wales
Response from the Editor
Dear Mr Pedrick,
I am very sorry to hear of your current predicament, which is one in which many long-standing National Trust members across the country currently find themselves.
However, we would urge you and your wife to re-join: membership numbers are so vast that the loss of some members in protest will hardly put pressure on the NT, whereas—given the extremely low turnout in NT Council elections—if all disgruntled members make sure they renew their memberships and vote for good candidates at this year’s elections, we could have a real and significant impact.
Yours sincerely,
The Editor