National Trust Exiles
SIR – Charles Moore (Comment, September 9) rightly criticises the way the National Trust is run.
It is additionally frustrating to former members like me who resigned on principle when the Trust began to stray beyond its brief. Now we find ourselves unable to vote for those candidates who might return this once laudable organisation to its original purpose. Should we rejoin?
Myra Robinson
Newcastle upon Tyne
SIR – Charles Moore notes that, when controversy arises, the approach of the National Trust’s leadership is “barely to acknowledge and never to debate it”.
This is certainly true of Clandon Park House in Surrey, the burnt-out wreck of a once magnificent property, where the Trust’s policy has been to keep it largely as a ruin.
In June, Clandon residents met the property manager, and he was given a very rough ride. Nobody at the meeting liked the scheme, which involves the Trust breaking its promise to rebuild and reinstate. A parish poll showed 87 per cent in favour of total or partial restoration. But, as usual, the Trust has taken none of this on board.
Patrick Streeter
London EC2
