The National Trust is under attack

Callistemon21

^Slaves would never, ever have that opportunity^

The son of a slave became a High Sherriff and moved in high society.

I don't think you meant it this way, but the more I read our words the more they distress me. The implication is almost that any slave could have achieved this if only they'd pulled their fingers out...

It was actually fairly common for fathers of children by slave born mothers to give them favourable life chances, but the numbers who benefitted were infinitesimal when compared with the thousands (millions?) of people born or taken into slavery over the period in which it was common and legal. They had no opportunity whatsoever to be anything other than a slave.

Take it how you like. It was a simple statement of fact.

As so often happens on GN, posters put their own interpretations on other's straightforward statements and make them into something they are not.

It's a ploy to make other posters look bad.


Very few of the downtrodden masses achieved high office either.
If only they'd pulled their fingers out .....
Sigh.

Callistemon21

Take it how you like. It was a simple statement of fact.

As so often happens on GN, posters put their own interpretations on other's straightforward statements and make them into something they are not.

It's a ploy to make other posters look bad.

Very few of the downtrodden masses achieved high office either.
If only they'd pulled their fingers out .....
Sigh.

Jeeeee zus.

Thanks a bunch for your understanding of how words can be upsetting...

That's ok 🙂

Don't keep attacking everything I post.

I think that the NT is bigger than the properties it controls. It has to be since there are so many houses and other buildings and the land of course.. If it didn't exist many of the stately homes would have been destroyed.

Near where I used to live in Suffolk there is the remains of an estate formerly belonging to the Rendlesham family. After the 5th Lord R died in 1911 the estate was finally sold for use as a sanatorium in 1923. It was then used by the army but was demolished in 1949. I think bits of it were sold to Americans but can't be certain of that. In any event what remains are a long tree lined avenue, two gate houses and kitchen gardens with associated workers houses.

A similar fate has happened to many other houses and I suspect that without the NT many more would have disappeared and their contents dispersed. I think that some of you are forgetting that many houses go to the NT because there is no family member to take them on or because the owners can no longer afford the upkeep.

There's one not far away which we have visited a few times, that was in a state of disrepair until the NT took it over and restored it.
I remember climbing up to the top to see the restoration of the roof.

I think the problem is that the NT thinks it is bigger and more important than the houses it cares for.

It isn't. It is the servant off the houses, sites and land it looks after, they should come first, last and everything inbetween.

Delighted to see that - again - the Reform Trust candidates all lost and lost badly.

I saw that on twitter yesterday

Thanks for posting it

Siope

Delighted to see that - again - the Reform Trust candidates all lost and lost badly.

👍👍👍yes good isn’t it?

Excellent news. i didn't see it in the paper yesterday. Haven't seen today's papers yet.

I think the NT has a lot to answer for.
In this morning’s DT
CHRISTIAN holidays have been excluded from the National Trust’s inclusion calendar, triggering a backlash from members.
While Diwali, Eid and Ramadan feature in the heritage group’s “inclusivity and wellbeing” calendar, distributed to volunteers, Christmas and Easter go unmentioned.
The issue was raised by a volunteer amid angry scenes at its annual meeting, where the Trust was accused of rigging an election to get favoured candidates voted on to its council. Some fear it will allow the Trust, which criticised the Government’s net zero policy and investigated its houses’ links to the slave trade, to push “woke” policies.

Lord Sumption was among the candidates endorsed by Restore Trust, which believes the National Trust has become focused on campaigning instead of its principles of heritage and conservation.
Meanwhile, David Lamming, a Trust member from Suffolk, told the meeting the calendar issue had been raised with him by a concerned volunteer.
He said: “It doesn’t include the Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter. Can we have an explanation please for those being omitted? “
His question prompted a loud round of applause from the audience, one of whom later said it was a sign that the heritage group had become “too woke”. John Orna-Ornstein, the curation director, said: “I’m really clear there is no such internal discrimination .”
Surely it has got too big for its boots and lost sight of what it was originally set up for?

No - bigotry and regression has been avoided.

It is a forward looking outfit concerned for the environment and the history it has inherited.

Freya5

MaizieD

The National Trust doesn't just own country houses, does it? It owns small dwellings associated with famous figures from the past and large tracts of countryside.

In fact, a staggering variety of properties:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Trust_properties_in_England

Just because its product in some areas has become bland and 'samey' doesn't mean that one should vote for the nutters who want to deny the less savoury aspect of Britain's past. Or does it?

Do you mean people who disagree with you, and others on here. Slavery of black people does not exist in this country, no African heritage person alive today, unless living in some parts of Africa, suffer slavery. Ho w many of you admire Roman ruins, and Anglo saxon burials, those invaders who enslaved the inhabitants of these islands people, took them into slavery, sold them on the continent to Arab and African traders. Your sense of history seems to be , and the NT, obsessed with only one aspect of that terrible part of most countries history. How many holiday in Portugal,do you take note of their instigation of the European slave trade. Why are you concerned that a black parent wouldn't want their children to know ,,the past history of some of their possible ancestors. Do those who suffered the holocaust turnaway. I would like history to be truthful, about every aspect, not just the one that is in vogue to suit a minority.

www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/slavery-uk/#:~:text=Modern%20slavery%20exists%20in%20many,bars%2C%20car%20washes%20or%20manufacturing.

Anniebach

Must have Casdon , there is a part of a South Wales Valley, I will not name it , where one learned why there were so many more redheads living there than the rest of the valley. As for
‘Their homes were protected by law ‘ so not true

I wonder if this is the Gwendraeth Fawr Valley, where studies have shown that there is a high percentage of people with red hair. The reasons are fascinating and give clues to population movement in South Wales, but they have nothing to do with slavery, so I'm a bit puzzled.

I vaguely recall when the Telegraph wasn’t a rag.

National Trust 2024 calendar showing Good Friday and Easter Monday. This is their ‘gardens’ calendar, but others I quickly checked are the same.

Freya5

MaizieD

The National Trust doesn't just own country houses, does it? It owns small dwellings associated with famous figures from the past and large tracts of countryside.

In fact, a staggering variety of properties:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Trust_properties_in_England

Just because its product in some areas has become bland and 'samey' doesn't mean that one should vote for the nutters who want to deny the less savoury aspect of Britain's past. Or does it?

Do you mean people who disagree with you, and others on here. Slavery of black people does not exist in this country, no African heritage person alive today, unless living in some parts of Africa, suffer slavery. Ho w many of you admire Roman ruins, and Anglo saxon burials, those invaders who enslaved the inhabitants of these islands people, took them into slavery, sold them on the continent to Arab and African traders. Your sense of history seems to be , and the NT, obsessed with only one aspect of that terrible part of most countries history. How many holiday in Portugal,do you take note of their instigation of the European slave trade. Why are you concerned that a black parent wouldn't want their children to know ,,the past history of some of their possible ancestors. Do those who suffered the holocaust turnaway. I would like history to be truthful, about every aspect, not just the one that is in vogue to suit a minority.

Countries all over the world are trying to come to terms with their role in slavery. And discussions are taking place about whether it is best to 'erase' (as in removing and destroying statues of key people linked to slavery) - or to educate by explaining where and how their wealth (and their houses, furniture, etc) comes from. Most countries have come to the conclusion that using houses, statues, and other wealth, to explain and educate. Good I say. and I have been a member of the NT for about 45 years.

Our DDs and GCs are very aware of their ancestry on both sided of the slave trade, owners and slaves, and yes, they do want to know.

What The Romans Did For Us, Freya5!

Enslaved us 🙂
Some of these Romans were black Africans, including commanders and one Emperor.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b082w9p9/black-and-british-a-forgotten-history-1-first-encounters

Very internet series on bbc iplayer about forgotten black history. I learnt a lot from this.

Callistemon21

What The Romans Did For Us, Freya5!

Enslaved us 🙂
Some of these Romans were black Africans, including commanders and one Emperor.

Yes, we all know that! What has it got to do with NT choosing to teach, in the UK, about the role of the British in the diabolical triangle and how huge fortunes were made that way - resulting in the ownership of many properties currently in NT's hands?

I didn't say it did have anything to do with it, did I?
Are you the thread monitor?

It was chat, and addressed to Freya51

I attended the AGM. John Orna Ornstein, in his reply to the accusation that the NT is sidelining Christianity, said that he himself is a Christian. I also have an NT desk diary for 2024, which clearly shows all the major Christian festivals. I am very glad that Restore Trust failed to have any of its candidates elected.

There is a full video of the 2023 AGM on the National Trust's website. Warning - there is an awful lot of it! (And you don't get the refreshments.)

Interestingly, almost all those attending were middle-aged or older. I suppose that retired people have the most leisure to study the various issues and to volunteer.

vintage1950

There is a full video of the 2023 AGM on the National Trust's website. Warning - there is an awful lot of it! (And you don't get the refreshments.)

If there's no tea and home-made biscuits I may not watch it all

We joined when we retired as, of course, we had more time.
Parents with young children probably don't have the money to spare, either.