To offer visitors a more involving and enjoyable experience, encourage
them not only to join but to join in, and to build wide public support for
our charitable aims
How we've acted
Surf's up
In the West Country, our surfing coordinator - a former British surfing
champion - has started to build strong relationships with the surfing
community who are as passionate as we are about protecting the pristine
environment of the coast.
We've brought Winchester City Mill back to life with involvement from
the local community. The mill now makes wholemeal flour using the power
of water, and children and adults are encouraged to find out about the
process with a hands-on approach to learning. In total, 85 new posts
were created at properties last year to increase engagement with visitors.
On Heritage Open Day in September 2007, 200 pay-for-entry Trust properties
opened their doors with free entry and a host of activities for all
ages to give newcomers a taste of what we can offer them. We believe
shared experiences help build strong communities, rooted in local places.
Welcoming
Last year over half a million people joined us and 86% of members renewed
their subscriptions. We have 52,000 active volunteers, joining in with
everything from building stone walls to helping visitors at our properties.
Our equality and diversity programmes help to provide access for all.
Fine Farm Produce Awards
Now in their second year, the Trust's Fine Farm Produce Awards are
raising the profile of inspired examples of farm enterprise - from Llanrhidian's
salt-marsh lamb to Cotehele's apple juice - and introducing to the public
an amazing range of food products from traditional breeds of cattle,
sheep and pigs. And we are an active partner in the 2008 Year of Food
and Farming.
Our Exposed! photographic exhibition on climate change, sponsored by
Magnum, won the prestigious ICVA Clarion Award, previously won by Al
Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth. This collection of stunning images,
inspired by ideas for greener living, was launched with a high-level
public debate at the Royal Geographical Society before touring the country
Prince's Trust partnership
The Big Lottery Fund has funded Getting into the Past - New Futures
for Young People, an exciting collaboration between the National Trust
and The Prince's Trust. The scheme helps disadvantaged young people
progress into education, training or employment. This year's programme
engaged with 150 young people, 65% of whom we hope will move into the
longer programme
Our natural world
Our Hidden Nature campaign welcomed adults and children to a hands-on
programme of wildlife action, observation and learning at our properties
and in their homes. Activity planners and Hidden Nature passports were
published online and in national newspapers, and properties have been
running a wide range of workshops and events to attract young wildlife
explorers
Improving Conservation
Our aim
To increase investment in conservation, and to set and deliver ever-improving
conservation and environmental standards
How we've acted
Watch us at work
Vital work in 2007 included the completion of a multi-million pound
renovation at Cragside (Northumberland), urgent structural repairs to
the fabric of Corfe Castle (Dorset) and the painstaking restoration
and conservation of the woodwork, tiles, glass and mirrors of The Crown
Liquor Saloon (Belfast). Locked gates used to seal off houses and gardens
during restoration work, but our Conservation in Action programme invites
visitors at some sites to watch work in progress and even take part
in it.
Energy Busters
The Energy Busters programme at the Brancaster Millennium Activity
Centre has taught hundreds of Norfolk schoolchildren how to cut their
own schools' energy use, in some cases by a third. We are developing
similar schemes in other regions.
Find out more about Energy Busters (link to Brancaster Millenium Activity
Centre case study)
Farming for the future
Our team of farm advisers helps farming families to find ways to increase
the value of their produce through direct marketing and local food campaigns,
as well as by diversifying income through green tourism. They help farmers
to exchange experiences and ideas, and open up new routes for farmers
to reach local communities.
Trust gardens are also responding to the challenge of climate change.
Nymans Garden (West Sussex) composts all its green waste, runs its vehicles
on biofuels, and recharges its equipment using solar power. Mottistone
Manor Garden on the Isle of Wight and Felbrigg Hall (Norfolk) are trialling
plants which will be more adaptable to warmer and dryer conditions.
Acquisitions and chattels
We made a number of major acquisitions in 2007/08, including the purchase
of Godolphin House and Garden in Cornwall, Sawrey House Hotel next to
Beatrix Potter's Hill Top farm in Cumbria, and negotiations to secure
some of the extraordinary chattels at Nostell Priory in West Yorkshire.
We also completed the restoration of the Pope's Cabinet at Stourhead
(Wiltshire).
Important chattels which came to the Trust included the Borden collection
of works by Thomas Bewick, the late Peter Barkworth's collection of
paintings and watercolours, and at Lyme Park (Cheshire) a unique group
of 18th-century clocks. Visitors can see conservation work being carried
out on all the newly acquired contents of Agatha Christies's home at
Greenway (Devon).
Green spaces
We protect places where people can reconnect with nature. They may
be in urban centres, like Morden Hall Park in London, where we are planning
a major regeneration scheme. Or on the edge of cities, like Belfast's
Black Mountain, where we added 192 hectares (474 acres) to our estate
in 2007, for public benefit.
Shrinking our footprint
We've introduced a tough new environmental audit process at all our
properties. Across the Trust, low-energy lighting is replacing incandescent
bulbs - at a substantial annual saving to the Trust. A team of hands-on
Environmental Practices Advisers helps us to reduce our use of carbon,
water and waste at our properties.
Photo-voltaic panels nestle in the battlements of Dunster Castle in
Somerset, showing that even a Grade 1 listed building can help to tackle
climate change. Meanwhile our central office, Heelis, won its 15th national
award as an exemplary green development.
Coping with the unexpected
The Engineering Historic Futures project is providing us with technical
solutions to help historic properties recover from flooding and protect
them from future damage. A century's experience of dealing with such
crises helped property staff to put right much of 2007's flood damage
as speedily as possible.
Investing in Our People
Our aim
To help staff and volunteers to grow and share their skills and expertise,
and to simplify our systems to encourage local initiative and creativity
How we've acted
With a little help...
We are proud to have 52,000 volunteers helping us across the full diversity
of our work. This year, our volunteers contributed a total of 3,093,771
hours, equating to a notional value of £22.3 million.
Through our new Step Change Project, we want to create more space and
opportunity for Property Managers and their teams to manage their own
affairs. We are simplifying our management and decision-making systems
and making sure we provide the right framework to support local initiative
and experimentation.
Green Leap Day
TOn 29 February 2008 we held our Great Green Leap Day, in which National
Trust staff had the opportunity to take time off and undertake an amazing
range of green activities outside work.
Megabash
We celebrated 40 years of working holidays with a hugely successful
'megabash' to clear bracken, scrub and rhododendron in the Surrey Hills.
Fix the Fells
Volunteers for the Fix the Fells partnership are helping to reverse
the damage from decades of footpath erosion which scarred the Lake District.
Listening to our volunteers
We've undertaken a major survey of our volunteers, and we are organising
a series of volunteer conferences, creating new recruitment material
and a lively online network for volunteers. We are also expanding Active
volunteering magazine and improving training and development for our
volunteer managers.
Developing our staff
We're taking steps to address our main staff concerns around pay, bureaucracy
and speed of decision-making. We aim to make the most of the potential
of the creative individuals who make up our teams and to engage staff
more deeply in the issues we face.
E-training
A pioneering 'e-induction' package uses a wide range of video and interactive
techniques to help new staff members get to grips with the complex demands
of our 'for ever, for everyone' mission.
Financing Our Future
Our aim
To generate at least a 20% net gain to invest in our future, and use a
triple bottom line (conservation/environment + people + finance) to ensure
every pound is well spent and delivers our aims
How we've acted
Meeting financial targets
The Trust's target to guarantee a sustainable future is a net gain
of at least 20%. This means we must earn £1 for every 80 pence spent
on routine expenses. Without it we cannot meet the enormous conservation
obligations associated with our properties, implement our strategy and
strengthen our reserves. This year we have exceeded our target, with
a net gain of £55m, or 23.2%.
Our new triple bottom line accounting system across all our work measures
social and conservation/environmental performance alongside the traditional
'bottom-line' measure of financial success. Investment decisions will
now be based on a balanced judgement of the conservation gain to the
places we care for, and the social benefit to the communities we exist
to serve, as well as good value for money.
Attracting visitors
At the end of 2007/08 visitor numbers at our pay-for-entry properties
saw an increase of 7.5% to reach 15 million visits to our houses and
gardens. Paying visitor numbers were up 4.9% on the previous year. Many
millions of visits were also made to our coast and countryside properties
where access is free to all.
Commercial activities
Our commercial activities from our subsidiary, The National Trust (Enterprises)
Ltd and those undertaken by the Trust itself, had a record year with
profits of £21.3m, £2.1m better than the previous year and £0.6m better
than budget. Our catering and filming performances were particularly
strong.
Inspiring generosity
Generous legacies and donations have always been a bedrock on which
the Trust's finances are built. This year's legacy income was an astonishing
£57.5m, 45% ahead of target. A number of individual legacies have been
exceptional. The planned Snowdonia Activity Centre is only possible
because of the generosity and vision of a donor who wishes to remain
anonymous.
Competing for grants
A Big Lottery grant is funding a cycle link between Cambridge, Wicken
Fen and Anglesey Abbey. Heritage Lottery funding has made many innovative
projects possible, including London Voices, Whose Story? and the renovation
of Sudbury's Museum of Childhood in Derbyshire.
Corporate partnerships
We agreed a green energy partnership with npower to reduce our own
energy bills and give supporters the choice of opting for electricity
from renewable energy supplies. Other generous support for specific
projects came from, among others, Yorkshire Bank, Sky, RIAS insurance
advisory service, and the Wolfson Foundation.
Appealing for new funds
We ran a number of property appeals, including a Centenary Appeal at
Hidcote Manor Garden in Gloucestershire, and fundraising for Tyntesfield,
Godolphin and Greenway. The Snowdonia Appeal raised over £250,000 in
its first month, to support vital conservation projects throughout our
properties in Snowdonia.
