North Notts Association of National Trust Members extends a warm welcome to everyone who is a member of the National Trust living in the Nottinghamshire area to join the association and become eligible to attend the winter talks and summer trips arranged each year.
The speaker at their last meeting in March was Andy Beer, who is the National Trust Regional Director covering both the East and West Midlands area. His talk covered his job description and set out some of the aims of the National Trust generally and he then talked about some of the properties in our region. There are plans afoot for Clumber, obviously concerning the re-building of the iconic bridge, and he also covered the recent problems which have arisen because of the ongoing fracking project across the country. Clumber had to concede eventually that they had no legal right to prevent access for surveying as part of efforts to assess the area for shale gas but if it is discovered and becomes a possibility, then there could be problems which will have to be considered. There are always ongoing plans for National Trust properties to keep them of interest to the public as well as the never-ending maintenance to be dealt with, and he talked about proposed plans for Hardwick, Southwell Workhouse and Calke Abbey in particular.
The last winter meeting was the group’s AGM in April, which was followed by a talk from Pat McLaughlin on the subject of South Yorkshire Castles. Their summer season of visits starts in May. Members will all have been advised of the May and June visits by either email or letter. The first outing is to Middleton Hall and then Lichfield Cathedral on 8th May.
The talks are all held at The Crossing on the third Wednesday of the winter months, and start at 7.30pm, with tea and coffee served from 7.00pm. Membership costs £4.50 single and £6.00 joint and £3.00 per visit. Visitors will pay £4.00. All money raised from the trips goes towards helping mainly local National Trust projects which are selected from an annual ‘wish list’. More information is available from nthnottsntassoc@gmail.com.