Notice of Election to the Council
A ballot is held each year for the election of Council members. This year we have five vacancies.
The main responsibilities of the Council are to appoint the Trust’s Chair, Deputy Chair and members of the Board of Trustees (our governing body) and to hold them to account.
The Council is comprised of 36 members, 18 members are elected directly by you and 18 are appointed by organisations which you elect every six years. The Chair is also a member of the Council. All Council members are volunteers. Each serves a term of three years, with a third of the positions being filled each year.
The Council’s annual report is published in the Annual Report and Financial Statements. For more information about the Council and who its members are visit here.
The National Trust’s constitution requires the Council to hold an election each year, to identify new members who would meet its needs over the next three years, and to recommend those candidates best suited to meet these needs.
The election process is managed on behalf of the Council by its Nominations Committee. This year’s members were Jane Dean (Chair), Harris Bokhari, Anne Casement and Jas Rai (independent external member).
The Nominations Committee’s task is to recommend to you those candidates who most closely meet the criteria agreed by the Council. This year the Council sought applications from people who met the general skills and experience criteria detailed in the Governance Handbook (which is available here). The Council is also keen to support the Trust’s strategic Everyone Welcome priority by improving diversity generally across its community. This year we expect five vacancies, with successful candidates joining the Council for three years from the AGM.
improving diversity generally across its community. This year we expect five vacancies, with successful candidates joining the Council for three years from the AGM.
The five recommended candidates are:
James Dixon, Inga Grimsey, Sarah Hollingdale, Simon Kearey, Michael Salter-Church
These candidates each met the range of required criteria, demonstrated a clear passion for the Trust and would bring valuable knowledge and experience to support the work of Council over the next three years.
While the Nominations Committee has made its recommendations you can, of course, vote for whoever you choose.
The profiles of all the candidates are set out on the following pages.
Voting in this election can only be done in advance of the AGM. See the 'Voting and Attending the AGM section' for details on how to vote.
Voting closes at 11.59pm on Friday 3 November 2023.
Click through the next pages to read the candidate's statements.This year's candidates are:
Sid Bains
Adam Bray
Barbara Bush
David Callaghan
Stuart Carter
Peter Chapman
Kevin Degenhard
James Dixon
Philip Gibbs
Stuart Gilmour
Andrew Gimson
Michael Goodhart
Loree Gourley
Stephen Green
Inga Grimsey
Tony Gross
Heidi Hellmann
Sarah Hollingdale
Kathryn Isaksen
Rajiv Jaitly
Simon Kearey
Simon Lloyd-Williams
Laura MacLeman
Violet Manners
Bob Mark
Jim McRobert
Philip Merricks
Philip Monk
Christopher Paulson
Michael Salter-Church
Emma Schofield
Paul Stewart
Jonathan Sumption
Lynn Thornhill
Matt Wilson
Jacob Withington
Richard Wood
These statements represent the views of the candidates – they do not necessarily represent the views of the National Trust.
My first walk 10 years ago on Kinder Scout changed my life. It helped my health and mental wellbeing and enriched my life. However, despite our best endeavours, many parts of our community, particularly the elderly of Asian origin are missing out on the best health medicine available. Many of them have never seen or experienced the rich heritage of our country. I want to create a grassroot movement to enrich the lives of neglected communities by providing easier access to the beauty of our country and the rich heritage managed by the National Trust.
Q: What is it about the Trust that inspires you to seek election?
To help deliver the Trust mission ‘for everyone, for ever’ by introducing the Trust to the many forgotten communities who neither have the access or the appreciation of how the Trust can enrich their daily lives.
Q: What skills and knowledge would you lend to the Council and the Trust?
As a professional Chartered Engineer, with over 30 years’ experience working in IT across UK, Europe and the US, I will use my systems engineering background, marketing expertise and creative thinking to help leverage innovative IT and social media to open up access to disadvantaged and neglected communities.
Q: What should be the Trust’s focus in its next 10-year strategy?
Doubling the membership base which will mean a plan to create more enriching experiences for members, attracting new members from the communities missing out and building new multimedia collateral so even elderly who are no longer fit enough to walk can still enjoy Trust assets.
There is no greater joy than exploring our nation’s rich and varied heritage, as well as our extraordinary and increasingly fragile natural environment. I have been fortunate in my professional career in helping bring places like this to life for thousands of people and have been a member of the National Trust for over two decades. I am attuned to the delicate balance of the need for both preservation and promotion of the UK’s historic and natural environments and hope to play a part in helping manage these amazing locations in a sustainable, nourishing and celebratory way for future generations to enjoy.
I am inspired by the Trust’s vision to preserve and promote the UK’s rich cultural and natural heritage. As a passionate advocate for sustainable tourism as well as diversity and inclusion, I bring commercial experience which I believe would make a meaningful contribution to the Council’s voice and impact.
Navigation of complex and politically charged local issues; Development of local partnerships and key cultural initiatives; A voice of marginalised people, as part of the LGBTQ+ community; Diversity and inclusion within national organisations; Driving commercial growth at sites owned and managed by the Trust; Relevant experience in the sector.
national organisations; Driving commercial growth at sites owned and managed by the Trust; Relevant experience in the sector.
Sustainable enjoyment, for all: drive engagement at sites without harming the natural or historic environment. Promote to protect: preservation for future generations by promoting conservation.
Better for people, better for planet: how Trust properties give back to local communities/the environment, driving meaningful social value.
As a committed supporter of the National Trust over my lifetime, I feel that I now have the time, skills and passion to give to helping shape its future. Working in senior HR roles over many years, I have joined and contributed to the governing bodies of a variety of organisations, focusing specifically on strategy and planning, diversity and inclusion and corporate values and behaviours. Voluntary work has included supporting arts organisations, cancer charities and latterly the Church. In 2020 I was awarded on OBE for services to pensions, diversity and charity.
I believe the Trust has preserved and opened up our cultural heritage to a wide range of people in an accessible way, increasingly diversifying its offer and positioning itself as a strong voice for cultural breadth.
Commitment to the organisation and its future, a developed capability in creating unified values, strategy and plans, a strong pragmatism and integrity and a history of designing and supporting change in large, diverse organisations.
In the next decade, the issues of climate change and sustainability can only increase, whilst social and cultural diversity come under more pressure both politically and economically, requiring the careful balance the Trust has already championed to work alone and with partners in contributing significantly to both agendas.
There’s nothing I love more than taking the dogs for a walk around a National Trust woodland. I want to be part of the Council to contribute to the fantastic work of the Trust and ensure it remains accessible for all. In my career, I have worked with large and complex organisations in the delivery of their modern workplaces and am used to working with a complex matrix of stakeholders. I have volunteered as a charity trustee, participated in several fundraising sporting events, and sat on several councils/committees for various organisations. I would bring these experiences to the Council.
Having been a member for over eight years, and a visitor to Trust properties for many years previously, I love the diversity of the work the organisation undertakes. I want to be part of the governance of the organisation to help with its continued protection, conservation and heritage activities.
As a change management practitioner, I work with organisations undergoing transformation to guide the delivery of their strategic objectives. I would bring knowledge of previous success, alongside emerging trends in other organisations to the Trust. I would advise, support and guide the Trust through working with others on the Council.
organisations to the Trust. I would advise, support and guide the Trust through working with others on the Council.
I believe the focus should be: organisational resilience, the past five years have shown a need for this; new member attraction, looking at services that could be offered to encourage those to join who may not have considered it previously; and digital transformation, where required integrating more digital ways of working.
Throughout my life I’ve benefitted from all that the National Trust has had to offer. Not only through its preservation and education programmes, but also where it acts as a conduit to enable people, from all walks of life, to come together and enjoy a shared experience in their surroundings. As a member of the Council, I would be committed to promoting its values of inclusivity and the fulfilment of its goals and strategy to ensure its continued relevancy to every visitor now and in the future and in striving for this I would draw upon my experience of public office.
It is because I hold dear both its purpose and its values, that I want to be actively involved in its preservation, and where necessary, involved in its evolution in order to reflect changing societal values.
The knowledge and skills that come from a life in business and the law, and of time in public office, where commitment, vision and the ability to call to account authorities without fear or favour, in this case, to ensure promises to all of the Trust’s stakeholders are fulfilled.
To build upon what it is doing best as well as provide more emphasis and dedicate more resources to the preservation and where necessary the re-introduction of native British fauna and flora – thereby preserving a natural authenticity to the British landscape in which a building may be situated.
Life Member of the National Trust for many decades. I do not run a car so have developed an expertise in travelling around the UK using a mix of walking, public transport, car clubs and car hire. Now retired, I have the time to actively support the Trust’s sustainability agenda by joining Council to be a voice for those who for whatever reason do not have access to a car. I look forward to working with the Trust’s staff in developing access plans which take account of the needs of all visitors, current and potential, to the Trust’s properties.
That it has an open and transparent governance structure which encourages members’ voices to be heard.
Knowledge of the UK public transport system and experience in using it allied to a strong desire to offer voluntary assistance to paid staff honed through volunteering on heritage railways and in the Church of England.
To face up to the impact of the personal choices being made by members, volunteers, and visitors as they support the Trust in its work by asking if some of this support is not actually counter-productive to the Trust being a sustainable organisation.
As a member for 15 years who reads the newsletters, visits our properties and votes on AGM resolutions it’s a privilege to be considered as a Council candidate. My national RSPCA trustee and Japan Animal Welfare Society trustee roles provide governance experience and my regular Sussex Wildlife Trust ancient woodland conservation work highlights the importance of dedicated volunteers. An avid ornithologist and passionate wildlife conservationist, I would encourage National Trust rewilding projects like at the Knepp Estate near my home. Having led numerous wildlife crime investigations over four decades I would support Trust wildlife protection initiatives.
I’m inspired to seek election by the visceral joy my family and I feel exploring every new Trust property that becomes ours for a day, feeling the time is now right to become part of the process that encourages passion in others to support and appreciate these unique resources.
I’ll contribute over 40 years’ grass roots to director level RSPCA Inspectorate and trustee experience, plus four years as The Bahamas Humane Society CEO. Sixteen years involved recruitment, training and leading presentations at multi-NGO international conferences here and abroad. I am now an animal welfare consultant.
and abroad. I am now an animal welfare consultant.
Anticipate tougher scrutiny. Attract a wider audience. Focus on our environmental and conservation credentials. Challenge corporate retail boundaries. Resource planning is crucial. Be more visible to children. Don’t airbrush history; explain history. Aspire to be the gold standard heritage organisation on the planet.
I have worked in conservation, heritage and land management all my adult life. My first job was a summer Ranger working with the National Trust in Surrey. Throughout my career as a rural policy expert, civil servant, CEO of a national park and today as a nonexecutive and countryside writer I have always championed and worked closely with the Trust. I can bring a detailed understanding of land management, especially in uplands, heritage and fundraising and charity management and governance. I have an expertise in nature, but a broad understanding of everything the Trust does and stands for.
The Trust is the most exciting heritage organisation: it has remarkable breadth of heritage and opportunities to tell many stories of our past, is well-placed to reach new audiences, the young and in urban areas, and no other organisation has the scale of landholdings to demonstrate visionary rural sustainability and nature restoration.
I am an experienced senior leader at executive and non-executive level, know a lot about charities, fund-raising, local and central government relations and am a natural and experienced communicator with the track record, belief and time commitment to help the Trust excel in its mission.
experienced communicator with the track record, belief and time commitment to help the Trust excel in its mission.
I have three priorities: sustaining the business, ensuring properties are viable and heritage is maintained to the highest standards; reaching out to create more meaningful connections with a more diverse network of supporters and participants; and using the Trust’s properties to demonstrate excellent inclusivity, sustainability and nature restoration.
If elected, during my three-year term I commit to and will much enjoy visiting every National Trust open house and garden, seeking out ways in which our offering might be improved. I strongly oppose Trust nominating preferred Council candidates and the new ‘quick vote’ whereby members put one tick to support management, without needing to know who or what they are voting for. How can all this be squared with equality commitments. The Trust should repudiate its report that referred to: an outdated mansion experience; putting collections in storage; restricting access to some properties and reducing curator numbers.
The Trust’s portfolio is an incredible national asset for all, necessitating strong advice and governance, for example to ensure: proper democracy; all aspects of conserving the environment; sensitivity and fairness to everyone; sticking to its statutory role of safeguarding our heritage and no longer spending charity money on political campaigns.
My lifetime passionate interest has been studying historic houses, gardens and landscapes (on visits, and via books, lectures and the internet); my career was analysing and advising businesses, and I have been a trustee supporting heritage bodies and active in man others, all useful experience for a Council member.
advising businesses, and I have been a trustee supporting heritage bodies and active in man others, all useful experience for a Council member.
The Trust should focus on: Trusting the membership not perpetuating the establishment; caring for employees, volunteers, local communities, farming and residential tenants; addressing critical environmental challenges; increasing viability and accessibility of properties; improving visitor satisfaction; respecting donor wishes helping secure more donations; ensuring technology is up to date.
A member for five years I am continually impressed by the work of the National Trust and I feel it’s time to give something back. I have a passion to ‘make a difference’ and I am keen to be the voice of the ordinary member on the Council. Independent minded my interest lies in improving the appeal of the Trust properties to a broader range of individuals – particularly the young (the future custodians) and the less well off (either by financial or educational constraints). The aim is to enable more people to enjoy the diverse pleasures and beauty provided by the Trust.
The UK is a beautiful place and the Trust strives to enable people to enjoy and understand our history, heritage and landscape. I have enjoyed some of this and I wish to help encourage and engage more people so they too can enjoy and preserve these important spaces.
I have worked in IT for nearly 40 years and with a range of individuals from diverse backgrounds and skills.Throughout my career I have provoked, challenged and driven change with the aim of improving the experience of customers and staff alike to achieve company goals and objectives.
Building on the current ‘For everyone, for ever’ strategy the Trust should emphasise its role in sustainability and renewal, and how protecting and promoting properties and land under its control is beneficial for everyone. It must be pragmatic and ensure relevance to today’s population, particularly the young and local communities.
The National Trust has in recent years strayed from its proper purposes. It has made knowledgeable long-serving staff redundant, indulged in managerial gobbledygook, promoted a self-hating conception of history, and suppressed well-founded criticism from members. If members were to do me the honour of electing me to the Trust’s Council, I would seek to prevent the repetition of these blunders. By saving so many houses and their contents, the Trust helped avert, in the last century, a disaster comparable to the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It must not now, in easier times, succumb to modish nonsense.
I have taken lifelong pleasure in visiting the Trust’s properties, and have been particularly inspired by its excellent care of Stoneywell, the house in the Charnwood Forest, near Leicester, built by my great-great-uncle Ernest Gimson.
I would bring the skill to articulate and to defend the Trust’s traditions, and knowledge of British history, expressed in the two volumes I wrote of brief lives of our monarchs since 1066 and prime ministers since 1721.
It should remain faithful to its statutory aim, namely ‘…promoting the permanent preservation for the benefit of the nation of lands and tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historic interest…’.
The motto says the National Trust is for everyone. Is it? Impressively about 9% of us are members. But what of the 91%? Many cannot afford the £7 a month membership subscription or the high entrance fees, especially since the one-ticket policy has been introduced. Progress towards the stated ambition to remove financial barriers by 2030 seems slow. Initiatives, such as Wimpole for Everyone, which I led, try, but more needs to be done if the Trust’s life-enhancing potential is to reach the young, whose education outreach programmes were cut in the pandemic reset, and those in debt or on Universal Credit.
The Trust has huge potential to be an even greater force for good within our troubled nation; as a member of the Council I would promote our best aspects and also collaborate in holding the Trustees accountable for striving to achieve the objectives of their 2021 Inclusion and Diversity policy.
I am a critical friend of the Trust who wants to see it achieve its laudable goals, a Trust volunteer gardener for more than 10 years, a retired conservation architect and an activist working tirelessly towards protecting democracy, heritage, rivers and nature.
The 2021 Inclusion and Diversity policy of better reflecting the changing communities by 2030 is too vague and distant. Much more needs to be done to reach out to the less privileged. The Trust should aim to make its wonderful estates available so everyone can benefit from them.
I have been a member of the National Trust since arriving in the UK in 2010. Professionally, I am a Partner within the Ernst & Young UK LLP Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice, where I lead a diversely technical team covering all elements of Environmental Social and Governance including the climate, nature and social nexus aimed at driving real world outcomes in a timeframe aligned with those recently launched by the UK Government. Personally, I am the Chairman of the Ethics Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, deputy Chair of the Institute of Business Ethics Board of Trustees and I hold a seat on the Investors Group on Climate Change Policy Steering Committee.
Opportunity to deliver real-world outcomes, volunteering with Europe’s biggest conservation charity to tackle climate change, protect historic sites and help people and nature thrive.
I hope to bring domestic and global market insights and good practices spanning the nexus of climate, nature and social, coupled with innovations associated to data and technology, required to assess, monitor and report on progress.
Hold steadfast to your 2030 carbon net zero target, while continuing your efforts in restoring your nature-rich assets to deliver positive biodiversity outcomes.
I am standing to end the National Trust’s obsession with fashionable causes and bring it back to its core principles. I also oppose the Trust’s cronyism. A Trust ‘Nominations Committee’ invites selected candidates to meet it before recommending just enough to fill that year’s vacancies. That is partiality. In addition, the Trust introduced ‘Quick Vote’ in 2022 to vote down every members’ resolution and elect all its recommended candidates to Council. I would end ‘Quick Vote’, but ‘Quick Vote’ itself will ensure that I, or anyone else whose face does not fit, will never be elected to the Council anyway.
I’m a long-standing member of the Trust and love the founding purpose of ‘promoting the permanent preservation for the benefit of the nation of lands and tenements (including buildings) of beauty or historic interest…’. The Trust must build on that, encourage and not alienate its membership base.
I shall bring Christian principles and marketing experience to help make the Trust more prudent in its business, more relevant in our time, more realistic in its aspirations, focussed more on growth and respected once more among its members and tenants.
The Trust should concentrate on being a good steward of its property, its resources and its members’ subscriptions and act both in its members’ and tenants’ interests and the national interest, ending its current fixation with ‘woke’ causes and stopping the waste, the cronyism and the elitism.
I am a life member of the National Trust. I see the Trust approaching a challenging and exciting time, as it develops its new strategic plan. The Trust must ‘look back. to its future’ to ensure it can be relevant to all its supporters, develop new audiences and be as forward looking as its founders were in their day. Whilst not neglecting its day-to-day responsibilities, inclusivity and a contemporary interpretation of its purpose are key to its continued success. I believe my previous experience at the Trust, the Royal Horticultural Society and the National Lottery Heritage Fund means I bring strong relevant experience to the Council.
To be part of an organisation that inspires, influences and adds value to people’s lives, in an ever-changing world across its broad areas of work, whilst still being loyal to its purpose but challenging how it delivers this in the 21st-century.
A knowledge of the Trust, past and present, skills in ensuring that organisations look to the future as well as protecting the past, experience of heritage (built and natural) outside the Trust, at the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Royal Horticultural Society, and knowing how large complex organisations work.
Responding to climate change, in all its work and working to get others to do the same whilst expanding access to the broadest range of audiences in all relevant ways in its properties, virtually and in person and ensuring its ‘people’ be it staff or ‘visitors’ are nurtured.
Standing for re-election. Attendance in last term: 13 out of 14 meetings.
I have spent my career working internationally, for the United Nations and others, on biodiversity and heritage conservation. As a negotiator, to achieve progress towards your collective goals you need to engender a spirit of common purpose, accommodate diverging views, and ensure effective participation of all stakeholders. This is experience I can bring to Council. My childhood involved exploring National Trust properties on the South Downs and the clifftops of Gower and Pembrokeshire, while student days involved enthrallment with its properties in East Anglia and the Thames Valley. On returning to the UK I immediately joined the Trust.
Managing so much of our natural and cultural heritage, with a mandate to protect nature, beauty and history, the Trust enjoys an unrivalled opportunity to offer an ever-wider membership both wonder and solace, and reflections on how to address the current environmental crisis and to understand our historical journey.
I know that good policies and decisions are reached by inclusivity and consensus, and I have contributed to strategic planning, monitoring implementation, holding responsible bodies to account, and to making best use of
the enthusiasm of volunteers and am familiar with the applicable legal framework and operational principles.
Building on its current strategy, the Trust should focus on further diversifying and engaging its membership, celebrating our heritage, driving nature recovery and achieving net zero on its properties and in its operations, resulting in effective verifiable implementation and offering examples to wider society, including as appropriate through partnerships.
As a National Trust member for 20 years, I am passionate about what the Trust accomplishes and stands for. Over the last 10 years I have led the strategy teams of two FTSE100 companies with a particular focus on sustainability and climate change. I would be honoured to have the opportunity to leverage hese skills to shape and influence the Trust’s future strategy. In addition to protecting our heritage to the highest standard, I would also focus on increasing the involvement of people from diverse backgrounds, addressing the Trust’s carbon footprint and promoting the ongoing modernisation of the organisation.
20 years of fantastic memories – from my children running through Easter trails at Osterley to my 80-year-old mother debating with a Sutton Hoo volunteer in the rain! I would like to make these opportunities available to a wider group of people, while also working to continuously improve the Trust’s offerings.
Strategic oversight – 15 years working in senior strategy roles, helping companies to develop and deliver their ambitions. Sustainability and climate change – extensive experience helping private and public organisations decarbonise. Stakeholder management – accustomed to the
challenges of managing the views and expectations of disparate stakeholders. Personal qualities: perceptive listener, open and collaborative.
Increasing accessibility to attract people of all ages, race and economic background. Tackling climate change and supporting biodiversity, including efforts to reduce the Trust’s carbon footprint, helping members to decarbonise and planning for climate adaptation. Continue modernisation: digitisation of the Trust’s operations and evolving the experiences offered to members.
I’ve been a member since childhood and visited more properties that I can count! I’ve also been an intern, tenant, and now Council Member. I’ve whole-heartedly committed to my role, serving on Nominations Committees and the Growing Talent Working Group. I regularly visit both new and familiar properties, keen to experience the amazing range of Trust properties, and hear from people on-site. I hope that my love of the Trust has come through over my term, and that love means I’ve also taken my responsibility as ‘guardian of the spirit of the National Trust’ seriously, challenging and asking difficult questions when necessary.
The Trust feels like home to me, and I want to make sure that everyone feels equally at home. I’d have been lost without the sanctuary of Charlecote Park or the consistently inclusive welcome at Newark Park, and I want to make sure that everyone gets to experience that.
I am experienced in managing projects to make heritage accessible, including: using archives and oral history to make history more personal, opening up career opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds, making improvements to ensure volunteers and visitors with additional needs have an equal experience, and restoring historic buildings for community use.
needs have an equal experience, and restoring historic buildings for community use.
When founded, the Trust was a radical concept; taking on the conservation of beautiful places like Dinas Oleu and Alfriston Clergy House ‘for the benefit of the whole nation’. The Trust should continue to be bold, prioritising equal access to nature, telling difficult stories honestly, and asking ‘What Would Octavia Hill Do?’
Standing for re-election. Attendance in last term: 14 out of 14 meetings.
I am eager to join the Council because I have a deep passion for sharing stories that are often forgotten. With over a decade of volunteering experience, I understand how impactful these stories are in inspiring visitors and engaging volunteers. Additionally, I see opportunities to better incorporate technology in the visitor experience – a particular area of expertise for me, having spent 30 years working in global technology companies. By combining my love for heritage with my high-tech experience, I am confident that I can make valuable contributions to the Council’s mission of preserving our cultural heritage for future generations.
The National Trust’s mission to protect the nation’s historic places and green spaces resonates with individuals like me who value the importance of preserving history and nature for future generations. I’m inspired by the commitment to engage everyone in the community with the diverse cultural heritage across the Trust portfolio
My skills in IT, software applications and digital user experience can support the Trust’s mission, through advice on digital transformation, user experience, data analytics and innovation. With 30 years’ experience in the technology industry, I can help improve the Trust’s digital capabilities for visitors, members, donors, volunteers and employees.
30 years’ experience in the technology industry, I can help improve the Trust’s digital capabilities for visitors, members, donors, volunteers and employees.
Connection is essential for preserving and promoting the nation’s landscapes and cultural heritage. The 2025–2035 strategy should focus on cultivating a sense of connection by fostering deeper engagement with local communities, promoting diverse cultural experiences and providing opportunities to connect with nature, ensuring a sustainable future for the nation’s heritage.
As a life member, I have a particular interest in the countryside spaces and historical gardens that the National Trust manages. Academically trained in Agriculture and Farm Business Management, a Chartered Accountant and an experienced non-executive director, specialising in risk management, I bring a different perspective as an Indian living in the UK, and would like to contribute to the development of the Trust and its objectives in becoming a more inclusive organisation, encouraging greater diversity in thought through its membership, governance and use of Trust resources by a much wider section of society than is currently the case.
As a Life Member I would like to contribute to the Trust becoming a more inclusive organisation that caters for a much wider section of society in Britain, by bringing a different perspective to its considerations in developing policy.
As a Chartered Accountant and experienced non-executive director specialising in risk management with academic qualifications in agriculture and an upbringing and education in India, I would in addition to my professional skills bring a different perspective to the deliberations of the Council.
deliberations of the Council.
To make a critical contribution to the sustainable preservation of the natural heritage of the country and be more inclusive (through members, volunteers, governance and depiction of history), serving a far wider section of society, encouraging it to contribute to, use and enjoy the facilities the Trust offers.
A qualified accountant with a passion for heritage, conservation and the arts. I have worked in retail, banking, distribution and charitable/non-profit sectors building up a considerable network at both board and operational levels. Collaborating with a range of partners to develop clear strategic visions, utilising excellent communication and leadership skills, as well as demonstrating an understanding of the drivers of economic sustainability in all sectors. I have both worked with and advised a range of diverse boards to create ambitious future plans and been instrumental in seeing these through to successful delivery.
I have been a lifelong supporter of the National Trust and the work it does. My current experience spans a whole range of heritage and conservation charities plus other organisations, all of which have similar interests to the Trust and I would like to give something back.
I would bring the partnership links that I have access to, along with an accounting and business orientated approach to delivery of the Trust’s aims and ambitions. Building sustainable and productive relationships through collaboration with others.
A continued ambition to deliver national access for all – supporting a wider audience to appreciate and benefit from the work the Trust does. An increasingly important force for employment and volunteering opportunities, whatever your age or ability, securing local and national heritage for the future.
I am interested in joining Council as I believe my skills and work experience would be invaluable in this telling time for the National Trust. Skills such as communication, team leadership and management and the ability to focus on delivery while managing risk. I have volunteered for both the National Trust and the National Trust for Scotland and served as a National Trust for Scotland Trustee. I currently volunteer on the Trust Slindon Estate.
The Trust is in trouble – it is ironic that an organisation so involved with history should now find this history has caught up with it, the past informing the present; the battle between the ‘traditionalists’ and the ‘woke’ will tear the Trust apart if it is not addressed and resolved.
The skills and knowledge I will bring to Council come from my time as a senior project manager at IBM – these include communication and leadership, organisation and negotiation, team and time management, risk and budget management, problem solving, motivation, reporting and active listening and lastly, interpersonal and conflict management skills.
reporting and active listening and lastly, interpersonal and conflict management skills.
Continue the 2020–25 strategy but with more emphasis on the urban (where most of the members live) and how the Trust’s properties fit into the history of these isles and the empire.
As a first-time mum during Covid-19, outdoor space grew to be my lifeline. Since becoming National Trust members in early 2022, my family and I have spent countless weekends exploring glorious properties and gardens with our inquisitive toddler. We are indebted to the opportunities it gives us to be close to nature, spend time together and enjoy new experiences. My career has been spent in charity communications, advising leadership boards and Trustees on reputational risk, strategic vision and audience outreach. I would love to bring that expertise to this organisation, helping to demonstrate the Trust’s value to more families like mine.
I am inspired by the Trust’s mission to be ‘For everyone, for ever’, as I am passionate about inclusivity and believe that open spaces, outdoor experiences and historic buildings should be accessible to all, and want to use my experience in international development to help achieve that goal.
I will bring a wealth of knowledge gained in my decade in the charity sector, using my communication, writing and networking skills to help attract new audiences, maintain the reputation of the Trust and ensure quality communication with its membership is at the heart of the Trust’s strategic vision.
communication with its membership is at the heart of the Trust’s strategic vision.
I believe the Trust should focus on widening its reach – it truly provides something for everyone, and through strong messaging and positioning the organisation could attract a wealth of new members to help achieve the growth needed for long-term sustainability in the face of growing challenges.
As a child, I worked at Belvoir’s gift shop and café on weekends and holidays. Interacting with visitors taught me about the world’s love for the UK’s houses and landscapes. The National Trust preserves properties for future generations. However, I believe the Trust has become distracted by a political agenda that detracts from its mission. If elected, I would help the Trust remain focused. I celebrate Britain’s historic houses in my popular podcast, ‘Duchess’, and plan to launch a heritage platform later this year. I am committed to heritage and believe the Trust has achieved much, but there is room for improvement.
The Trust rescued houses, gardens, and landscapes that may have vanished, and I urge the Trust to maintain its responsibility to preserve them for future generations. I am running for election due to my enthusiasm for heritage, and the Trust has a crucial role in this mission.
I have 10 years’ experience of marketing and have recently sold my agency. I would add value to the Council by helping the Trust to showcase its properties impartially, creatively and strategically to increase its membership and further its mission to protect and sustain heritage for future generations.
further its mission to protect and sustain heritage for future generations.
The Trust, supported by members, must remain true to its mission. More can be done to raise global awareness of our heritage. While heritage needs to remain relevant and interesting for visitors, the Trust must not view its history through the political lens of today when conserving the past.
A passionate life member of the National Trust, I have volunteered on the Council, SW Regional Advisory Board and Castle Drogo Project Board. I am Chair of the Board of Trustees for the SW Coast Path Association (SWCP), a charity which works closely with the Trust to improve, conserve, and bring fresh audiences to one of the world’s great trails. The SWCP has around nine million visitors a year and contributes around £500m and 10,000 jobs to the SW economy. My background is as a partner in a global strategy firm, and before that leading national hydrographic policy, and managing survey projects worldwide.
The Trust is unique in the public good it delivers, from landscape conservation through to wonderful gardens and houses. My family and I relish the peace, beauty, and history of the Trust’s countryside, gardens, and houses. The Trust inspires me and I simply wish to give something back.
I chair a charity which works in partnership with the Trust, combatting the effects of climate change, nature depletion, and adverse development in our precious coastal margin. My skills, developed in the public, private, and charity sectors, are in practical strategic thinking, advocacy, project management, and team-building. I think all are relevant.
charity sectors, are in practical strategic thinking, advocacy, project management, and team-building. I think all are relevant.
The Trust, working with its tenant farmers must play a key role in the transformation of agriculture. Net zero, climate change, nature depletion, and food security, add urgency. The Trust must also grow and attract new audiences to invest in conservation, while developing innovative models to ease the burden of greater footfall in its properties.
I have been a member of National Trust for 30 years and have worked in agriculture for 40 years. I am Sustainability Lead for Carrs Billington Agriculture (in post for four years). I chair the Agricultural Industries Confederation (Feed) Sustainability Committee. I am Vice Chair for Wensleydale RUFC and have been a volunteer in rugby, coaching and admin for 30 years. I would like to join the Council to help the Trust protect, develop and educate the public for the future, and believe the skill set I have has equipped me to achieve this.
I welcome the opportunity and amazing challenge of being a member of the Council, to ensuring we deliver on the Trust’s aspirations, along with the chance to help others understand more about the importance of nature, history and food production.
I am a team player and have gained a wealth of experience as a member of many committees over the last 40 years. I have a sound knowledge of agriculture, in particular grassland and soil management along with livestock production. My ‘what3words’ would be ‘curious.passionate.energetic’.
production. My ‘what3words’ would be ‘curious.passionate.energetic’.
‘For everyone, for ever’ is the strategy until 2025, the challenges we faced then are similar now, with a lack of biodiversity, rising obesity, and climate crisis on our hands. Following a review of how successful the implementation of the 2020-25 strategy was I would probably consider more of the same.
Philip Merricks is a working farmer who has been a life member of the National Trust for more than 30 years. He is the only farmer in the UK, to be accredited by Natural England to manage National Nature Reserves which are the most important wildlife sites in the country. Philip is a firm believer in the core purposes of the Trust. Philip serves as a Kent Ambassador for the countryside and as a Deputy Lieutenant. He is a former High Sheriff. He was appointed MBE for ‘Services to Nature Conservation in Farming’ in 2004.
I am inspired by the Trust’s foresight in owning very large areas of land. It’s great that the Trust is aiming to ensure that this land is managed not just for food production but also for increased wildlife, improved landscape and public access.
I believe that I have the right understanding of what is needed to encourage the Trust’s tenant farmers in conservation. I have gained this knowledge as Chair of the Council of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, a charity that employed more than one hundred farm conservation advisors.
I believe that the Trust should put more focus on improving its land for wildlife and public access. The Trust has huge expertise in the preservation of its historic properties but the conservation of nature on its land requires different skills and indeed more focus.
If elected, I will improve Council representation for the North West, education, families, volunteers, and members who use the National Trust’s outdoor spaces and land. I am a qualified teacher, Chartered Geographer, Mountain Leader, Environmental Scientist researching renewable energy and climate change), and father of a young family. As such, I offer a unique mix of skills, knowledge, experience, and perspectives that will allow me to provide meaningful input across all strands of the Trust’s strategy. Having served one term on the Council (pre-pandemic), I have the governance experience to immediately make an effective contribution.
Trust land and volunteering have provided me with many happy memories. In coming years, the Trust will be able to help the public understand our climate and landscapes as they change and empower them with the knowledge to protect our world for future generations. I can help achieve results.
I bring a variety of perspectives – scientist, teacher, geographer, parent, volunteer – which demonstrate a breadth and depth of skills and knowledge that support the Council and the Trust’s activities. Furthermore, these empower me to communicate with any audience and to challenge others with confidence and authority.
me to communicate with any audience and to challenge others with confidence and authority.
The strategy should cascade from the need to adapt to environmental change. This frames curation, experiences and how best to connect with different audiences, facilitates looking after the Trust’s land and properties, and provides a durable language to create a consistent narrative with the public.
In terms of health and wellbeing, I really believe getting outside and becoming engaged in nature or learning about our history is a perfect antidote to our busy lives. And by engaging in this way it improves our understanding of our environment. I have worked in the finance industry for over 35 years, currently as a Customer Service Manager, working with and helping people across Salford and South Manchester. I have previously worked as the Chair of a youth group in Manchester. I think it is incredibly important to encourage all areas of society to enjoy and get involved with the National Trust.
I feel it is incredibly important that we all have a better understanding of nature, our environment and our history – and I believe the Trust is vital to achieving that.
I have 35 years’ experience working within financial services – helping people from a very diverse range of backgrounds from inner city areas to semi-rural. My current role is Customer Services Manager.
Involving all areas of society in the Trust – focusing on volunteering opportunities, education and ensuring value to members. Arising from that will be greater focus on environmental issues, greater involvement in local issues and better wellbeing.
I want to continue serving on the Council, and help ensure the National Trust remains ‘for everyone, for ever’. I support the Trust being proactive regarding climate change – protecting landscapes, ensuring flourishing gardens and a countryside with restored biodiversity. As a Trust member for more than 20 years, a member of the Cambridge University Sustainability Leadership, and leading on sustainability for a large UK company I have relevant experience. As Chair at the Horniman Museum I have insights on balancing visitor numbers, protection for our treasures and academic study. My background in public policy will help the Trust to develop our future strategy.
Upholding ‘For everyone, for ever’. Supporting our leading work on sustainability. Ensuring it continues to promote and preserve places of natural beauty / historic interest. Being able to continue contributing to the Council. Bringing an element of diversity. Chance to serve as part of the family of volunteers / staff.
Understanding Sustainability issues / reporting, from work and as a member of the Cambridge University Sustainability Leadership Institute. Public policy, Government / political relations. Communications, having worked on controversial policies under media scrutiny. Experience working with and recruiting volunteers. Understanding the Trust, in particular recent pandemic challenges. Knowledge of commercial operations and risk.
Experience working with and recruiting volunteers. Understanding the Trust, in particular recent pandemic challenges. Knowledge of commercial operations and risk.
Becoming more sustainable with improved biodiversity as part of climate change work. Leading collaboration with other organisations to increase our impact on key issues, e.g. climate change, diversity amongst volunteers, protecting our heritage. Improving accessibility, including through use of technology. Develop new partnerships with business to support volunteering and fundraising.
Standing for re-election. Attendance in last term: 11 out of 14 meetings.
My motivation for joining the Council is focused on providing transformational opportunities in nature for others, like I experienced growing up. My fondest memories of connecting with the outdoors and of my mother, who is sadly now ill with Alzheimer’s, come from our time spent at National Trust properties. They have held such a cornerstone in my upbringing and connection to the outdoors, leading me to a career where I am able to engage thousands of other young people from diverse background in green spaces and dedicate my time to removing barriers that prevent others accessing places like the Trust.
My journey as a conservationist started thanks to the Trust and my time as a volunteer at Lyme Park. The Trust has the opportunity to connect millions of people to nature on a national scale and it’s this scope and influence that inspires me to seek election to the Council.
I bring extensive and varied experience of connecting young people with the natural world, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds. I engage 12–18-year-olds in nature-based activities and conversations, ensuring they have their voices included and heard in the environmental movement, and I feel this will be an asset on the Council.
heard in the environmental movement, and I feel this will be an asset on the Council.
‘For everyone, for ever’ should be developed further, looking at how the Trust can enhance its successes in being accessible to people from all backgrounds and socioeconomic positions. This could start with a focus on inclusion of young people in decision making at a high level and opportunities for intersectional partnerships.
Trained horticulturalist, I worked for the National Trust from 2006 to 2019 including leading the restoration of Mount Stewart Garden to its place as one of the top 10 gardens in the world. Elected as President of the National Trust Prospect Union branch from 2012 to 2019. Lifelong activism in civic society and believer in the founding principles of the Trust. Awarded life membership of the Trust in 2019 for services rendered and currently manage the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Northern Ireland based at Castle Espie nature reserve and eco centre on Strangford Lough in Co. Down.
The Trust is a force for the public good and at the forefront of protecting and celebrating our heritage and environment though engaging the nation with it. The Trust represents the epitome of good governance and this democratic oversight ensures we stay true to our core values.
I understand the needs and challenges facing the organisation in a changing world through first hand operational experience in a variety of roles within the Trust. I am a passionate advocate of our organisation and life member with extensive experience of governance and activism in the wider civic arena.
with extensive experience of governance and activism in the wider civic arena.
Inspiring the whole nation to take action, driving the narrative on conservation and heritage in the UK.
I have been a member of the National Trust for many years and regularly visit the Trust’s sites. I am of course aware of current disputes about the Trust’s mission, which I regard as unfortunate, for they undermine its influence and its power for good. I would hope to help heal current divisions about the Trust’s core mission and earn the confidence of both members and management by focussing on those things that unite them.
The Trust is the most remarkable nongovernment conservation organisation in the world. Its record in preserving historic buildings, collections and landscapes is unequalled in any other country. Any member who values these achievements should want to contribute their skills in whatever way they can to assuring the future of the priceless heritage which it holds in trust for the nation.
I am a former Justice of the Supreme Court and a historian of Britain, especially (but not only) medieval Britain. I would hope to contribute my legal and historical knowledge to the work of the Trust. I have also restored a significant historical monument in France and another (less significant) in England.
legal and historical knowledge to the work of the Trust. I have also restored a significant historical monument in France and another (less significant) in England.
The Trust’s focus should remain firmly on conserving landscapes, buildings and collections for future generations, but attention will also need to be paid to newer challenges, notably mitigating the effect of climate change on land and buildings and considering how land can be managed in harmony with the environment.
Always having a passion for history, for wildlife, for travel and the arts, the National Trust, for many times over the years, has provided me with a place to uplift my spirits. But, it is more than this, it provides places where all of us can experience a sense of freedom, of community, of wellbeing and joy. I believe this to be so very important to everyone. I would love the opportunity to join the Council in helping to provide a happy, much needed and beneficial future for us all. Our cultural heritage is our cherished legacy.
The Trust has a record in providing quality and stability in everything that they do, and so it would be so exciting for me to join their team when driving forward to greater audiences and an ever-growing diversity.
I have a broad spectrum of skills, including organising, management, community projects, conservation work, renovation of period properties and art, craft and design, but most of all, I learnt in my early employment years how important and wonderful it is when customers are happy.
Places that inspire, delight, provide people with a sense of freedom from obligation and commitment, provide joy and a feeling of community and provide new memories for the future, something that should be on everyone’s agenda whatever their age; this should be expanded to the enjoyment of us all.
I have always had a passion for nature and conservation and especially being a champion for those who have no voice; the National Trust can provide that voice and I would be excited to be able. to help shape this for the future ‘for everyone, for ever’. My varied career as a senior manager in the food industry has provided me with skills that are transferable to this role, with an eye for strategy, project management and budgetary control and most importantly, empathy with people. Now retired, I can concentrate my time and optimism to this position and worthwhile organisation.
I want to be a part of an organisation that defends nature, when it cannot defend itself, and opens up history to all without judgement and prejudice and help to continue to support this.
I have over 30 years’ experience in managing big budgets and creating and running projects from the ground up, understanding how to get the best from individuals to craft a cohesive team, where all ideas and thoughts are valued.
A development from protecting nature, beauty and history to creating nature, beauty and history – acquiring countryside to create new habitats and beautiful places and ‘creating’ history by being fully net zero and trying to present more modern socioeconomic history, so there is less ‘us and them’ stigma that comes with estates.
My boyfriend and I bought memberships nearly five years ago and have since visited over 40 locations! The magnificent sites have stressed to me the importance of ensuring that the National Trust is for everyone, for ever. I can bring a 24-year old member’s perspective to the Council, increasing its diversity of experiences. Being a trustee of Bath University Students’ Union and a University of Bath governor has provided me with great experience in charity governance, strategy, and financial oversight. I believe the Trust can make great strides in increasing its visitor diversity and remaining at the forefront of preventing climate change.
I care passionately about the Trust’s founding purpose, giving everyone access to fascinating places of history and beauty. I want to ensure the Trust is welcoming to people from all walks of life, ensuring everyone’s lives can be improved by exposure to these unique experiences and opportunities.
I hope to bring to the Council the perspectives of young Trust members, and my experience of helping organisations tackle inclusivity and sustainability. I have previously helped develop equitable exam policies for international students at Bath University, addressing decolonisation through case studies, and improving sustainability through procurement.
students at Bath University, addressing decolonisation through case studies, and improving sustainability through procurement.
For everyone: improving inclusivity through physical accessibility, accessibility of education, and affordability. We should represent the demographics of the country and be embedded in the local community. For ever: we have tough carbon targets to meet, we can and should be leaders in this area. Can sites be more self-sufficient?
I have expertise in the hospitality industry and work for a company which fuses hospitality and leisure. In 2021, I embarked on a journey with Newcastle University’s Strategic Leadership apprenticeship and MSc programme, which helped me focus on the influence I make within my context. I have shaped behaviours within my organisation to pay ‘living wages’ to employees, initiated energy reduction initiatives and joined the sustainability team with the goal of Net-Zero. I believe collaboration is needed to address environmental factors damaging our world today, and that the National Trust has a strong part to play in our future.
The Trust is the stewardship of our heritage and areas of outstanding beauty. With this comes the responsibility to ensure long term sustainable growth economically, environmentally, and socially. Resonating with my values, I am passionate that the Trust leads the way to protect our people, lands, and wildlife.
I would bring inclusive practices to the Trust, focusing on belongingness and protecting uniqueness of all their stakeholders. I have expertise within the hospitality sectors and can bring economic and environmental perspectives to the organisation. Collaborating strategy with frameworks of UN Sustainability goals and UK Corporate Governance Code.
bring economic and environmental perspectives to the organisation. Collaborating strategy with frameworks of UN Sustainability goals and UK Corporate Governance Code.
Focus should be on exploring technologies to tackle climate change, demonstrating an ability to learn from our heritage to shape the future. Pro-actively supporting communities to use ‘clean’ and self-sufficient energy resources and reduce carbon emissions. Educating others of their values to protect and grow biodiversity within the UK.