In 2002 we had just 100 days to save Tyntesfield. With the help
of 70,000 individual donations and the National Heritage Memorial Fund we did it, and tens of thousands
of visitors and hundreds of volunteers have already fallen under its spell.
It is this willingness to take on a mission impossible that makes the Trust so extraordinary.
There were many new beginnings in 2004. Wordsworth’s childhood home in Cockermouth
reopened as a place where today’s children can relive the poet’s 18th-century childhood.
The Back to Backs opened to great enthusiasm in Birmingham and we were thrilled
that they were nominated for the Gulbenkian Prize for museum of the year.
E. Chambré Hardman’s home and photographic studio opened to the public, providing
a unique record of Liverpool life in the last century.
The Homewood, a modernist house, opened in Surrey. We also acquired Divis and the
Black Mountain, which tower over the city of Belfast, and Dyffryn Mymbyr, a hill farm in the heart of
Snowdonia.
There have also been challenges.
We are still working hard to convince the Government of the importance
of investing in our heritage.
The joy we share in our cultural and natural environment is a vital part of the
social glue that binds us together as a nation and it brings so many other benefits – creating jobs,
developing skills, promoting health and enhancing our quality of life.
Our tenants, volunteers and staff have also shown an amazing can-do spirit at times
of emergency. Two days after the floods at Boscastle in Cornwall, I was shocked by the devastation I
saw in the village, but full of admiration for the community. Together we have worked to ensure that
Boscastle is able to offer its renowned warm welcome to visitors this summer.
We have also experienced difficulties in the implementation of our new membership
system, based at Warrington. We offer heartfelt apologies to any member who was affected earlier this
year and have been working flat out to restore our normal high standards of service.
Promoting conservation and access is our lifeblood, but as the Chairman has reported,
we must focus on ensuring financial sustainability and making sure we work as efficiently and effectively
as possible.
Rigour is nothing new in the Trust. It was hard-working and tough-minded visionaries
like Octavia Hill and Beatrix Potter who made the Trust the organisation it is today – backed by millions
of you who have given your time, enthusiasm and money to the cause.
It is for this reason that we have named our new central office in Swindon ‘Heelis’
– the married name of Beatrix Potter. She was a formidable combination of environmental pioneer and
shrewd businesswoman and is a role model for us all.
I add my thanks to William’s for all your help and support.
Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE, Director General
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