National Trust council elections 2023

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The National Trust AGM takes place at 10am on Saturday 11th November, and the deadline for voting is Friday 3 November at 11.59pm. National Trust members have recently been sent their AGM Booklet which includes details about the meeting. We encourage any NGO members, who are also members of the National Trust, to use their vote. 

The Trust’s members are invited to register their interest if they wish to attend the meeting in person or online. All members have the option to vote on the members’ resolutions either at the meeting or online.

Members of the National Trust have been invited to elect up to five candidates for the Council ahead of the AGM. The main responsibilities of the council are to appoint the Trust’s Chair, deputy chair and members of the Board of Trustees (the NT’s governing body) and to hold them to account. Voting for candidates closes at 11:59pm on Friday, 3rd November.

The National Trust has seen something of an internal battle which many of you will have followed in the press. This seeming change of direction and a focus on more political issues rather than focusing on its core duty of preserving heritage has led to the launch of a campaign group called 'Restore Trust'.

Restore Trust would like to end futile attempts by the NT to attack historical figures in the context of current values, in particular attacks on donors.

They would like the Trust to ensure donor wishes are respected – which is something which can have an impact on the shooting community when the NT looks to follow fashionable political trends or, as some people put it, a ‘woke agenda’.

Restore Trust have put forward five recommended candidates which they believe will change the Trust for the better, and it seems that backing the seven Restore Trust candidates is highly likely to be in the shared interests of the NGO and their member. The candidates are as follows:

Philip Gibbs
Violet Manners
Philip Merricks
Jonathan Sumption
Andrew Gimson

Further details of how to vote are on the National Trust website, and futher information about Restore Trust and its aims, here. 

Notes to Editors:

The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation: The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO) represents the gamekeepers of England and Wales. The NGO defends and promotes gamekeeping and gamekeepers and works to ensure high standards throughout the profession. The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation was founded in 1997 by a group of gamekeepers who felt that keepering was threatened by public misunderstanding and poor representation. Today, there are over 13,000 members of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation. www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk