A dedicated volunteer with the National Trust has been told he is no longer welcome after spending hundreds of hours documenting spelling and factual mistakes on the charity's official website.
A Decade of Service Ends in Dispute
Andy Jones, 71, had volunteered with the heritage charity for more than ten years. His roles were varied, taking place at locations including the Woolbeding Estate and the Devil's Punch Bowl in Surrey. He undertook tasks from gardening and waste burning to guiding visitors and handling membership enquiries.
In November 2024, driven by his own initiative, Mr Jones compiled a substantial dossier. This document catalogued what he claimed were thousands of errors on the National Trust's site. He sent it directly to the organisation's director general, Hilary McGrady.
The 400-Hour Proofreading Mission
The pensioner invested approximately 400 hours of his own time identifying the mistakes. Examples he cited included misspellings such as 'toliets' and 'permananat'. He also pointed out the incorrect naming of Pre-Raphaelite artist Lucy Madox Brown as 'Maddox Brown', alongside various grammatical errors.
Mr Jones said he hoped his work would lead to corrections. However, he grew increasingly frustrated after receiving no response to his initial submission. After a follow-up email in January 2025 also went unanswered, he decided to quit his volunteer role.
'Irreversibly Damaged' Relationship
Upon resigning, Mr Jones sent a strongly worded email to his manager. In it, he referred to the website using derogatory language and made a disrespectful comment about Ms McGrady, who is from Northern Ireland. He later admitted to The Telegraph that this communication was inappropriate, citing stress following a prostate cancer diagnosis.
In reply, his manager expressed disappointment, stating the comments were "not in line with our organisational values". The Trust informed Mr Jones that the relationship had been "irreversibly damaged" and he would not be considered for future volunteer positions.
While criticising senior management as past their "use by" date, Mr Jones maintained his belief in the National Trust as a "brilliant" idea. He called for a "new, young, vibrant leadership" to reinvent the organisation.
A National Trust spokesperson stated: "We can say that no-one would be told they were no longer welcome as a volunteer simply for pointing out grammatical errors on a website... Relationship breakdown tends to occur after a series of incidents."
