Right on cue, is the right-wing media’s annual witch-hunt over the Trust’s alleged ‘wokeness.’
Eh-up, is it that time of year again?
Yes, we’re fast approaching the National Trust’s Annual General Meeting on November 8, and, right on cue, is the right-wing media’s annual witch-hunt over the Trust’s alleged ‘wokeness.’
Admittedly, it’s started early this year, even by the Mail’s standards.
‘National Trust in new woke row as 13 volunteer gardeners are terminated for failing to be ‘inclusive’,’ was a headline this week.
The article continued: “It [National Trust] claimed the gardeners, with more than 100 years of NT volunteering experience, had failed to attend health and safety briefings, refused to accept sustainability changes and created a culture where ‘individuals feel free to act or speak without regard for others’.”
“But the furious volunteers say the allegations are fabricated and called on trust director general Hilary McGrady to investigate.”
Surely, refusing to attend health and safety briefings seems like a fairly straightforward reason for disciplinary action. As for whether the rest of the allegations are “fabricated,” well, that’s ultimately their word against the National Trust’s.
Scroll a little further down, and, who pops up? Our old friends Restore Trust, the anti-woke pressure group that makes an annual attempt to seize control of the National Trust via the AGM.
For RWW readers, Restore Trust needs little introduction. Since its formation in 2021, it has enjoyed unwavering support from the right-wing press, which has helped promote its many unfounded claims, from vote-rigging to “cancelled Easters.”
In its latest outrage, Restore Trust co-founder Cornelia van der Poll, who previously complained in The Critic that the Trust had “abandoned loyal volunteers” in favour of “social campaigning,” claimed that volunteers at other NT properties had experienced similar treatment.
“Pity the National Trust doesn’t seem to value the amazing resource it has in volunteers,’ she told the Mail.
The article concludes with a final jab, claiming that the Trust received “backlash” for giving its cafes a vegan-friendly revamp last year, and for excluding Christian holidays from its “inclusivity and wellbeing” calendar in 2021.
But despite the noise, Restore Trust, with its murky funding and recycled grievances, has now failed not once, not twice, not three times, but four times to wrest control of one of Britain’s most cherished institutions.
It seems most National Trust members aren’t buying the outrage, no matter how loudly it’s shouted.
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