MUTINY AT THE NATIONAL TRUST
Fury of volunteers told to wear Gay Pride badges
volunteers last night accused the national trust of trampling on their rights by making them wear gay pride badges.
Dozens of unpaid guides have quit or refused to work following the diktat to mark 50 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
At least 75 volunteers at Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk are said to be in revolt over the order, which requires them either to wear the rainbow ID badges or be relegated to backroom jobs.
Scores of National Trust members have cancelled their subscriptions to the charity in protest.
Managers are now replacing the mutineers with untrained staff to keep the 17th-century property open.
Among those to resign in disgust are Josie and Des Gallagher. ‘It is a denial of volunteers’ rights,’ said Mrs Gallagher, 81.
‘We object to being told how to behave. The trust was always about conservation and preservation for future generations.
‘Now its motto is, “For ever, for everyone” but clearly that’s not the case for volunteers with different views. We treat everybody
THE National Trust inherited Felbrigg Hall from Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer in 1969 – and is drumming up visitors by outing him as gay.
To the dismay of his godchildren, the trust decided to rake over the sexuality of the former poet, squire and pillar of Norfolk society.
Ketton- Cremer was a gentle, private man who lived in an age when such things were illegal.
When his younger brother Richard died in the Battle of Crete in 1941, and appar- ently knowing he himself would not produce a successor, he decided the home should pass to the National Trust, which it did upon his death aged 63.
The trust’s Prejudice and Pride project was set up to expose the previously secret private lives of occupants of some of its properties.
It commissioned a short film about Ketton-Cremer, narrated by Stephen Fry, who justifies the outing by telling viewers they have so far had only an ‘incomplete
portrait’ of him. But Ted Coryton, one of KettonCremer’s godchildren, said: ‘I feel the National Trust is using this campaign to market their houses. It is despicable.
‘He gave them his family home and they should respect his right to privacy. I wouldn’t mind at all if he was gay. But if he didn’t announce it, why does the Trust think it has the right to pry into his past and say he is gay?’
A goddaughter said: ‘The Trust has done this for publicity to get people to visit the hall and make money.’
Tristram Powell, another godson, said: ‘His sexuality was incidental and scarcely headline material. The “outing” of him by the trust for its own commercial reasons feels mean-spirited.’
A National Trust spokesman said: ‘ The people we interviewed were clear we weren’t “outing” him, as among those who knew him it was widely accepted.’