Mottistone Gardeners sacked without warning !

Just wanted to add my voice of discontent over the direction the NT has taken.
Completely agree with Monica’s post 👏 and, on seeing the NT only give biased, negative slants on aspects of history, I did not renew my membership. I too joined HHA instead.

Might have to cancel our NT membership, which would be such a pity as there are so many lovely gardens near to us.

theworriedwell

NanKate

Talking of pronouns. A respected schoolteacher who refused to call pupils by their pronouns has lost his job and I believe has been sent to prison! It is a total disgrace.

Sent to prison? What was he charged with?

If it's Enoch Burke then he was repeatedly imprisoned for failing to comply with a restraint order. The case has become rather confused on social media.

Fact check: Teacher was sent to prison for refusing to comply with court order - PA Media share.google/GW0JWyCOIF4dBkq9j

Thank you OldFrill

NanKate

Talking of pronouns. A respected schoolteacher who refused to call pupils by their pronouns has lost his job and I believe has been sent to prison! It is a total disgrace.

Whatever is wrong with just surnames - or "Hey, You at the back! Take your hands out of your pockets when I'm speaking to you!"

I think that it's a group of eight volunteers from Mottistone Manor Isle of Wight .
What a shame.
Nothing surprises me these days .

We have a very active litter picking group, much needed here. We work closely with our council and they pay the insurance.

There were before and after photos in the weekend papers of a once beautiful, symmetrically hedged rose garden that the volunteers helped care for. The established roses were removed, replaced with a Sicilian theme of roses and cosmos, and it just looks unkempt.

These were volunteers who’d been given awards for their work, including for ‘going the extra mile’. Isn’t it a shame that the NT can’t tell them what they’ve done wrong?

M0nica

This news came as no surprise. The National Trust now seems to feel it has a monopoly on how history amd the past = and the present should be presented to the country. No room for alternative opinions, never a shred of doubt that the NT is the one and only Truth and nothing but the Truth and those who deviate must be cast into the wilderness.

They have dumbed down their properties because we plebs cannot be expected to have any deep knowledge, understanding and interest in history. The NT so heavily brand their properties that, like M&S, it doesn't matter what the building is, the brand is identical everywhere and the building barely comes into it..

We have joined the HHA. Individual houses, still run by the owners and each of them individual, some nice, some boring, but always different and on each visit there is the excitement of not knowing quite what you are going to get when you get there..

As a long-term volunteer, there's just one answer to this:

Utter rubbish.

I read that the trust has removed an article embroidered with names because JK Rowlings name was added.

theworriedwell

I vowed never to go to a NT property again after we were treated.very badly by a volunteer, probably racist as DH isn't white and the couples getting better treatment were all white. Good for the NT if they are going for a more professional standard

I'm not sure treating people that way is a "more professional standard"! It is wrong that you were treated badly. I think these long serving volunteers have also been treated badly if given no explanation etc. The changes may well be needed and valid. The management of those changes appears to have been useless!

Hopefully if they take on paid employees they will do their jobs properly, the ones I encountered certainly didn't.

Did anyone else read this?

From the NT July 14th:
Problems included:
*Delays in completing mandatory training related to health and safety and garden procedures.
*Instances of behaviour, language or attitude that do not reflect the respectful and inclusive culture we strive for.
*Hesitancy to raise concerns or engage constructively with team members, including new staff, volunteers and managers

It sounds to me that they had become a bit of a clique - not wanting to work with new volunteers and not doing H&S training etc.
The whole thing happened after their individual working reviews.
You do have to do these as volunteer managers.
I think there is more to it than meets the eye, personally. They aren't going to turn them away for no reason.

After 10+ years of volunteer gardening for NT (Scotland) I withdrew my services (as did many longterm vol colleagues) . because behaviours and attitudes of NTS head office /management towards volunteers had reached an all time low.

To be fair, I recently visited five NT properties in Kent and found all the volunteers well-informed and helpful, with no hint of wokery or other trends of which the NT is currently accused.

theworriedwell

Hopefully if they take on paid employees they will do their jobs properly, the ones I encountered certainly didn't.

As these volunteers have been praised and even received awards I believe for the standards of garden maintenance it appears that they did do the volunteering job properly.

NotSpaghetti

Did anyone else read this?

From the NT July 14th:
Problems included:
*Delays in completing mandatory training related to health and safety and garden procedures.
*Instances of behaviour, language or attitude that do not reflect the respectful and inclusive culture we strive for.
*Hesitancy to raise concerns or engage constructively with team members, including new staff, volunteers and managers

It sounds to me that they had become a bit of a clique - not wanting to work with new volunteers and not doing H&S training etc.
The whole thing happened after their individual working reviews.
You do have to do these as volunteer managers.
I think there is more to it than meets the eye, personally. They aren't going to turn them away for no reason.

Yes I read that. Yhe point is the gardener volunteers are saying that they have asked for clarification and been given bo information. That is poor management of the problem.

I am not saying the gardeners are all in the right - like you I suspect their is more to this than meets the eye. Also I think the new interim manager and NT management have dealt with it badly this creating the situation they are now in in the National Press!

butterandjam

After 10+ years of volunteer gardening for NT (Scotland) I withdrew my services (as did many longterm vol colleagues) . because behaviours and attitudes of NTS head office /management towards volunteers had reached an all time low.

Yes that does not surprise me having read about this management debacle.

I assume they each had feedback at the reviews and were afterwards grouping together to complain.

It's difficult to manage volunteers well - they are generally expected to adhere to the philosophy and ethics, rules etc of the company/charity but if they are long-term volunteers they don't tend to like change - in my experience.

I know you’re not supposed to - but has anyone tried washing one of the coated Cath Kidston handbags? 🤔

Sorry, wrong thread!!🤣

I am a NT volunteer and I'm not surprised at what has happened at Mottisfont. Unfortunately the Trust seems to have changed immensely in recent years - very woke and trying to force volunteers to think in a certain way, speak in a certain way and inflicting ridiculous EDI workshops on us which are hugely expensive and exactly the same training as the staff are subjected to. I find these days we are treated the same as the staff - everything comes from HR and there's very little understanding of how to treat and maintain the volunteers. I have decided to stay at my property until the end of the season but may then move on. I feel really sad for the gardeners at Mottisfont, but as another poster said, it's the National Trusts loss 😕

I think its dreadful ... people giving their time and effort and they were not appreciated ... I wont visit any NT houses anymore ...

We are seeing the NT being more “corporate” especially the big venues. Woke is everything and if you don’t like it tough, thankfully there are plenty of independant places to visit as an alternative.

NanKate I don't blame him, it's utter nonsense.