Going local Annual report 2009/10 The National Trust in brief What is the National Trust? Our strategy We look after special places throughout England, Wales and The National Trust benefits the public through conserving the Northern Ireland for ever, for everyone. We do it, in the words country’s most beautiful places for ever, and by welcoming of Octavia Hill, one of our founders, 115 years ago, ‘for the everyone to experience the joy and inspiration they bring. everlasting delight of the people’ – rich and poor, city and Our strategy for this year sets out four overlapping priorities country dweller, young and old. for achieving this purpose: We try to make sure that the unique spirit of each property can come alive in the hearts and minds of visitors. So we want to • engaging supporters; be local in our approach, giving frontline staff and volunteers the • improving conservation and environmental performance; power to innovate and build strong bonds with local communities. • investing in our people; We are Europe’s biggest conservation body. We are • financing our future. independent of Government, receiving no direct state funding for our core work. Our future depends on the generosity and In each area, our intention is to Go local – to reduce active involvement of 3.7 million members, 17.2 million visitors bureaucracy, devolve power, increase local distinctiveness, and and 61,000 volunteers, as well as benefactors, tenants and liberate the restless, volunteering spirit which, since 1895, has other partners. inspired this movement to such remarkable success. For the National Trust, conservation has always gone hand‑in‑hand with public access. This is a huge responsibility which we discharge by welcoming everyone to explore: • 709 miles (1,141 kilometres) of coastline; • 255,000 hectares (630,000 acres) of land, much of which is of outstanding natural beauty; • more than 350 historic houses, gardens and parks, ancient monuments and nature reserves. Four in five of our properties cannot fund their own permanent preservation. The cost of caring for them is high: we spent over £100 million on conservation projects in 2009/10. Since 1907, our promise to care for special places ‘for ever’ Cover: has had the force of law. We own most of this glorious heritage Local primary school children working in the inalienably, so it can never be sold or developed against our Walled Garden where vegetables are grown wishes without the consent of Parliament. organically, at Gibside, Newcastle upon Tyne The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty is a registered charity. It is incorporated, and has powers conferred on it by Parliament through the National Trust Acts 1907 to 1971 and under the Charities (National Trust) Order 2005. Since 1 September 2005 the Trust has been governed by a Board of Trustees whose composition appears on page 83. A brief description of the Trust’s organisation President HRH The Prince of Wales appears on pages 47-49. Our bankers, investment managers and auditors are Chairman Simon Jenkins identified on page 80, and our principal offices are listed on page 104. Deputy Chairman Sir Laurie Magnus, Bt This Annual Report has been prepared by the Board of Trustees and covers the Director-General Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE period 1 March 2009 to 28 February 2010. Contents Chairman’s statement 2 Director-General’s statement 3 Board of Trustees’ report for 2009/10 4 Introduction 4 The Trust in action 5 Our strategy to 2010 and beyond 12 Engaging supporters 14 Improving conservation and environmental performance 20 Investing in our people 26 Financing our future 32 The year in summary 38 Our refreshed strategy to 2013 –Going local 40 Our finances in brief 42 Financial review 44 Administration and management 47 Structure and internal control 47 Thanks 50 Annual report of the Council 2009/10 51 The financial statements 2009/10 53 Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities 53 Balance Sheets 54 Consolidated Cash Flow Statement 55 Notes to the Financial Statements 56 Independent Auditors’ report 80 The Trust’s advisers 80 Glossary of financial, property and fund terms 81 Other financial information 82 Governance of the National Trust 83 Membership of the Board of Trustees, Council, Committees and Senior Management Team 83 2009 Annual General Meeting 86 The year on record 87 Properties and chattels acquired 87 Visiting figures 90 Retirements 91 Awards 92 Obituaries 93 The Royal Oak Foundation 94 Gifts and donations 94 Top: Supporter groups 96 Lyme Park, Cheshire Legacies 98 Contact details 104 Middle: Blickling Hall, Norfolk Bottom: Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk Annual Report 2009/10 Contents 1 Chairman’s statement This year the National Trust has succeeded against taking top‑down decisions for people, rather than the odds. A severe recession cut deep into family with them. We are trying to be a more humane budgets. We might have expected the worst, but we collaborator with those who love these places and end the year in modest celebration. want to share in their fulfilment. Membership is at record levels, 3.7 million, up In the last ten years we have sought to transform 106,000 from 2009’s record figure. Visitor numbers our central and regional offices. With the benefit of at pay for entry properties were unprecedented, up stronger finances and more efficient information 16.2% on the previous year to a total of 17.2 million. systems, we are determined to devolve more Millions more enjoyed the freedom of open access decisions to frontline staff and volunteers. These to our countryside and coastline. For this success we are the people in direct contact with our public and owe a first debt to our remarkable 61,000 volunteers who know best how resources can be spent to enrich and 4,5001 staff. They are critical to our work. visitors’ experiences. Our Victorian founders would be overjoyed to Going local is about more than devolved see the Trust growing tall and strong in a world very management. It is about bringing our properties to different from theirs. They would also appreciate this is life. We may be a national organisation, but we want the result of hard work, good listening and bold vision to render our properties, landscape as well as houses that is constantly aware of what our members and the and gardens, individual and distinctive. Giving our wider public wants. Caring for properties and for the properties back some of their historical character, wider landscape is, in the resonant words of the 1907 making them feel places in which people lived out the National Trust Act, ‘for the benefit of the nation’. joys and sorrows of their lives, is what I most want to In difficult economic times these benefits become achieve as Chairman. Throughout this report you will even more precious. They rely on promoting the see examples of how we are doing this. appreciation of beauty, fresh air, the natural world We are forging new relationships between our and a kinship with the past. The Trust exists to properties and local communities, through sharing welcome people to these pleasures, and our results in facilities, volunteering, cultural and educational 2009/10 reflect a hunger for them. events, through local food schemes and a host of This hunger was also demonstrated by the public other initiatives. In past centuries our properties were appeal that raised over £3 million from thousands at the heart of community life: that’s where we mean of charitable trusts, companies and individuals to put them in years to come. across the country to acquire Seaton Delaval Hall in I am delighted that the Prince of Wales has agreed Northumberland, and over 400 acres of surrounding to be our President for a further five years. His belief land for the nation following its acceptance in lieu of in and support for our cause is an inspiration to us tax. This eighteenth‑century Vanbrugh house with and our supporters. gardens is now available for public enjoyment. From For over three and a half million people, the the start of the campaign we worked with the public Trust helps provide continuity in a turbulent world. – especially the local community – to shape Seaton Its historic strength is its capacity to change without Delaval Hall’s future and decide how the property can betraying its founders’ clarity of purpose: to offer best be used for public benefit. We want everybody to ‘everlasting delight to the people of these islands’. contribute to decisions on its future. Community involvement is crucial to our campaign to Go local. In the past, we have sometimes been seen as a heavy‑handed proprietor, Simon Jenkins Chairman 1 Full time equivalent 2 Chairman’s statement National Trust Director-General’s statement I’d like to start by thanking everyone – staff, designed to ensure we delegate many more decisions volunteers, Trustees, Council, and supporters – who to our General and Property Managers, simplify our have worked so hard to deliver the results set out rules and procedures, and free up our people to in this report. I can’t think of a more exciting time deliver lively, inspiring experiences at our properties to be part of the National Trust, with our focus on and to nurture strong links with the communities engaging supporters through the inspirational quality around us. of our conservation work; of connecting people to Across the country, staff and volunteers are the simple pleasures we all need; reconnecting people turning this vision into reality. Lively, engaging to landscape, the outdoors and food; and bringing properties give our visitors and supporters our history and stories alive. At a time when recession experiences that make them want to come back caused widespread gloom, I’m thrilled and proud and back again.