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A long-serving\u00a0National Trust<\/a>\u00a0volunteer\u00a0who spent\u00a0400 hours\u00a0finding mistakes on the charity\u2019s\u00a0website has been blacklisted from further work.<\/p>\n Andy Jones, 71, had given up his free time across several areas including the\u00a0Woolbeding\u00a0Estate\u00a0in\u00a0West Sussex<\/a>\u00a0and the Devil\u2019s Punch Bowl in\u00a0Surrey<\/a>\u00a0until finding himself at loggerheads with the management.<\/p>\n The pensioner\u2019s\u00a0unpaid\u00a0roles\u00a0over 14 years included\u00a0burning waste, gardening,\u00a0guiding\u00a0visitors\u00a0and answering membership queries.<\/p>\n But he\u00a0has been told he is \u2018not in line\u2019 with the Trust\u2019s values after\u00a0a chain of events that began\u00a0when he sent\u00a0a dossier of misspellings and factual errors on the website to\u00a0its\u00a0director-general,\u00a0Hilary McGrady.<\/p>\n He politely asked\u00a0Ms McGrady, who is from\u00a0Northern Ireland<\/a>, if she would \u2018be so kind to forward\u2019 the document to a relevant person.<\/p>\n He\u00a0spent around 400 hours\u00a0on the task\u00a0and hoped that the errors\u00a0would be\u00a0amended, but\u00a0received no response from the CBE recipient.<\/p>\n Mr Jones did not receive a\u00a0reply,\u00a0so he sent another email in January 2025, which read:\u00a0\u2018I sincerely hope my work is helpful to the National Trust.\u2019<\/p>\n He again did not hear back, prompting him to quit as a\u00a0volunteer<\/a>\u00a0at his local site\u00a0and send a strongly worded email to his manager, which he now acknowledges was inappropriate.<\/p>\n Mr\u00a0Jones wrote:\u00a0\u2018Still no reply, acknowledgement, let alone thanks from the\u00a0Oirish\u00a0[sic] Dame on over\u00a0400 hours\u00a0spent on her crappy not fit for purpose webs***e.\u2019<\/p>\n His manager then replied saying how they were \u2018disappointed\u2019 by the comments, adding they were \u2018not in line with [their]\u00a0organisational\u00a0values.\u2019<\/p>\n The relationship between\u00a0Mr\u00a0Jones and the Trust had been \u2018irreversibly\u2019 damaged,\u00a0and he would not be considered for future volunteer roles, the person said.<\/p>\n The former volunteer\u00a0confessed to\u00a0The Telegraph<\/a>\u00a0that his comments were inappropriate but alleged he was stressed due to his prostate\u00a0cancer<\/a>\u00a0diagnosis.<\/p>\n He still sees\u00a0the idea of the National Trust as a \u2018brilliant one\u2019 but views the senior management as \u2018past their \u201cuse by\u201d date\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018The\u00a0organisation\u00a0needs to be completely re-invented by a new, young, vibrant leadership that brings it kicking and screaming into the 21st century,\u2019 Mr Jones added.<\/p>\n A Trust spokesperson said:\u00a0\u2018We are always happy to explain our decisions to individuals when it comes to their conduct and the standards we expect but we can\u2019t do this via a newspaper, regardless of what any individual shares or claims, because we have a legal duty of confidentiality.<\/p>\n \u2018We can say that no-one would be told they were no longer welcome as a volunteer simply for pointing out grammatical errors on a\u00a0website\u00a0and this would not lead to relationship breakdown.<\/p>\n \u2018Relationship breakdown tends to occur after a series of incidents.\u2019<\/p>\n The incident is not the first spat between the Trust and some of its members over\u00a0values and\u00a0inappropriate use of language.<\/p>\n He politely asked\u00a0Ms McGrady, who is from\u00a0Northern Ireland<\/a>, if she would \u2018be so kind to forward\u2019 the document to a relevant person.<\/p>\n He\u00a0spent around 400 hours\u00a0on the task\u00a0and hoped that the errors\u00a0would be\u00a0amended, but\u00a0received no response from the CBE recipient.<\/p>\n Mr Jones did not receive a\u00a0reply,\u00a0so he sent another email in January 2025, which read:\u00a0\u2018I sincerely hope my work is helpful to the National Trust.\u2019<\/p>\n He again did not hear back, prompting him to quit as a\u00a0volunteer<\/a>\u00a0at his local site\u00a0and send a strongly worded email to his manager, which he now acknowledges was inappropriate.<\/p>\n Mr\u00a0Jones wrote:\u00a0\u2018Still no reply, acknowledgement, let alone thanks from the\u00a0Oirish\u00a0[sic] Dame on over\u00a0400 hours\u00a0spent on her crappy not fit for purpose webs***e.\u2019<\/p>\n His manager then replied saying how they were \u2018disappointed\u2019 by the comments, adding they were \u2018not in line with [their]\u00a0organisational\u00a0values.\u2019<\/p>\n The relationship between\u00a0Mr\u00a0Jones and the Trust had been \u2018irreversibly\u2019 damaged,\u00a0and he would not be considered for future volunteer roles, the person said.<\/p>\n The former volunteer\u00a0confessed to\u00a0The Telegraph<\/a>\u00a0that his comments were inappropriate but alleged he was stressed due to his prostate\u00a0cancer<\/a>\u00a0diagnosis.<\/p>\n He still sees\u00a0the idea of the National Trust as a \u2018brilliant one\u2019 but views the senior management as \u2018past their \u201cuse by\u201d date\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018The\u00a0organisation\u00a0needs to be completely re-invented by a new, young, vibrant leadership that brings it kicking and screaming into the 21st century,\u2019 Mr Jones added.<\/p>\n A Trust spokesperson said:\u00a0\u2018We are always happy to explain our decisions to individuals when it comes to their conduct and the standards we expect but we can\u2019t do this via a newspaper, regardless of what any individual shares or claims, because we have a legal duty of confidentiality.<\/p>\n \u2018We can say that no-one would be told they were no longer welcome as a volunteer simply for pointing out grammatical errors on a\u00a0website\u00a0and this would not lead to relationship breakdown.<\/p>\n \u2018Relationship breakdown tends to occur after a series of incidents.\u2019<\/p>\n The incident is not the first spat between the Trust and some of its members over\u00a0values and\u00a0inappropriate use of language.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A long-serving\u00a0National Trust\u00a0volunteer\u00a0who spent\u00a0400 hours\u00a0finding mistakes on the charity\u2019s\u00a0website has been blacklisted from further work. Andy Jones, 71, had given up his free time across several areas including the\u00a0Woolbeding\u00a0Estate\u00a0in\u00a0West Sussex\u00a0and the Devil\u2019s Punch Bowl in\u00a0Surrey\u00a0until finding himself at loggerheads with the management. The pensioner\u2019s\u00a0unpaid\u00a0roles\u00a0over 14 years included\u00a0burning waste, gardening,\u00a0guiding\u00a0visitors\u00a0and answering membership queries. But he\u00a0has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SEI_279200186-883d-e1767348867554.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646\")
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