Trust the Trust

This Saturday is the day of the National Trust’s AGM, this year taking place at Harrogate. I’m not travelling up there to attend but having been a member for many years, and probably because I’ve got more time to read and reflect these days, I’m increasingly interested in its future direction. As a membership organisation, it’s massive: with nearly 6 million members it dwarfs such as the Labour Party (430,00) and English Heritage (1.1 million). All members can contribute to strategy and plans via local and regional meetings, consultations and various volunteer opportunities and of course, at the AGM.

We all know the benefits to mind, body and spirit of being in the outdoors and especially with the experience and impacts of Covid, so the grounds and landscapes of the National Trust have probably never been more valued and appreciated. This, of course, was what the Trust was originally conceived to deliver when the charity was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, a Christian socialist who with a couple of other colleagues, was determined to offer urban working people access to clean fresh air and green spaces. It was only after the First World War, when the aristocracy could no longer afford to run its massive stately homes, that the National Trust Act 1937, allowed estates to be given to the Treasury in lieu of inheritance tax and thus held in perpetuity on behalf of the nation. The National Trust is charged not only with protecting and where possible, restoring these properties and estates, but also with opening, presenting and telling the stories behind this vast collection. That’s where the latest controversy to hit the Trust has occurred: how to present its properties’ connections to colonialism and slavery, upon which much of the nation’s historic wealth was built. A rebel alliance called ‘Restore Trust’ has been formed and has tabled a series of resolutions for the AGM, challenging what it calls ‘woke’ thinking and demanding more involvement of volunteers in the Trust’s plans and activities. I plan to attend the AGM online from the comfort of my own not-so-stately home to see where this agitation takes us.