National Trust For Scotland= Cheap membership for England

monkeyspanner

stevem999 wrote:

Surely this entire thread is really going against the grain of MSE? Please remember that you are talking about ways to reduce the amount of money you are giving to a charity, not a way of reducing the cost of days out.

Would you look for some way to avoid having to give as much money to Cancer Research or something? I don't think you would.

The membership fee is to give money to the National Trust who are preserving the country's heritage for ours and future generations; trying to weedle out of a few quid by joining elsewhere just makes that harder for everyone. The access to properties should be seen as a secondary bonus.

Yes the NT have charitable status but they also operate like a business and for example charge £6.50 a day for the Studland beach car park in Dorset and at peak periods if you end up in the overflow (half a mile away) it is still £6.50. The beach has very poor facilities, the staff are rude and the toilets are filthy. Most people who use this car park join the NT to avoid these excessive charges not to support an organisation which is insular, resists change and uses its position of power to overcharge.

Safiya_2

Hi Steve

While I agree with you in principle, perhaps the other way of looking at it is that people who would not normally join (like me!) are motivated to do so, so money gained by the NT and their ilk, plus the added bonuses of takings from souviners, cafes, extras etc. We are actually Australian and battling an exchange rate of 33p to every Australian dollar when we visited - so our joining the NT for our own budgeting benefit meant we got to see things we would never have been able to afford otherwise, gave the NT a bit of dosh plus spent money on drinks, postcards, a concert etc. We only joined for the year we travelled and would never have done so otherwise.

Just a thought.

Cheers

Safiya

Kyss

I haven't been too happy with my dealings with the National Trust. If you join online, you don't get instant membership but have to wait a few weeks for the card to arrive. I made this mistake once before a bank holiday when I was planning to visit a few properties. I joined and printed out the confirmation and took it along, but it wasn't accepted. I ended up cancelling the membership. So when they say 'Join Today', they really mean 'Pay now and join in a few weeks time'. If you're joining in the hope of using the membership soon, be warned.

I've also been told that I was 'making things difficult for them' when I asked to use a credit card [there was a sign up saying they accepted credit cards], and I find they are bit sniffy if you don't fill in their gift aid forms.

monkeyspanner

There is definitely pressure applied to sign a DD mandate when joining, and I have had a similar experience when I insisted on using a credit card. Presumeably this preference is due to them knowing most people will forget to review their membership. I am still waiting for a postal application to be processed that I submitted in mid-April, thats pretty poor service. As soon as the DD is taken for this year I will cancel the mandate so there is no repeat membership.

holmesclark

Thanks to `waster` for the NZ NT idea. I have emailed them and it is open to non NZ residents & you can join via email. I have included part or the email that I rec`d from NZ;

"Thank you for your email.

Yes you can join the New Zealand National Trust. For your information I have attached a sheet on the benefits of membership and an application form which you can email back to us if you wish to join. "

I also emailed the UK NT to confirm that we would have recipricol rights and here is the response;

"Thank you for your email. We do have a recipricol agreement with thh QE11 NZ National Trust whereby its members can access our properties free of charge on production of their valid membership card."

I think that the exchage rate works out at about £15.00

bunking_off

alison74 wrote:

I agree with Stevem999

Me too...I could certainly pay less to visit NT properties by not being a member and paying on entry. However, I view membership as citizenship/protection of our heritage rather than from a moneysaving perspective.

David_Cd

stevem999 wrote: »

The membership fee is to give money to the National Trust who are preserving the country's heritage for ours and future generations; trying to weedle out of a few quid by joining elsewhere just makes that harder for everyone. The access to properties should be seen as a secondary bonus.

I agree completely - the National Trust is a charity and does some fantastic work. So - go on - make a charitable tax efficient donation and thereby help preserve our countryside and heritage for our children, grandchildren and beyond. :T

mr&mrs

You can join the New Zealand Historic Places trust online. It costs 35NZD (= about 14 pounds) and they have a reciprocal agreement with the National Trust in the UK (as well as elsewhere).

http://www.historic.org.nz/join/join.asp

vodkawitch1

Just collect 25 points with walkers crisps and ge a family membership for a year - no wethic worries then as NT have organized the offer.

mr&mrs

vodkawitch1 wrote: »

Just collect 25 points with walkers crisps and ge a family membership for a year - no wethic worries then as NT have organized the offer.

The 25 points is for a free family entry (one day) not for a year membership.