National Trust gardeners have been forced out of their volunteer roles for not having the right “attitude and values” for the charity’s “respectful and inclusive culture”.
The 13 volunteers have worked on the grounds of Mottistone Manor on the Isle of Wight for decades, planting flowers, trimming hedges, and cutting the grass at the National Trust estate.
However, the gardeners have been ousted without any knowledge of what they have done wrong.
Graham Field, 76, who is acting as a spokesman for the gardeners, said: “With a cold and dismissive click of a send button, over 100 years of gardening skill, site-specific knowledge and hard work were lost to the trust.”
The manor and its 650-acre grounds were handed to the National Trust in 1963 by the second Lord Mottistone.
The close-knit group of gardeners looked after the six-acre garden, overseen by one full-time head gardener.
Retired civil servant Mr Field and his wife, Jackie, a former school teacher, spent their Thursday mornings working in the garden for 12 years.
The gardeners would host a Christmas party and take their coffee breaks together.
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The gardeners have worked on the grounds of Mottistone Manor for decades
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If any visitors arrived, the gardeners could explain the history of the estate, acting as improvised tour guides.
However, on June 19, when having worked a volunteer shift, the gardeners received an email that their work had been paused.
The trust’s senior volunteering and community officer for the Isle of Wight wrote to the group: “Please do not turn up to volunteer at this time.”
The concerned gardeners warned that this “cannot and should not be paused at any time” and that “doing so could quickly undo everything accomplished to date and over many years”.
Almost a week after the first email, the volunteers received another from the trust’s visitor operations and experiences manager on the island.
They wrote: “The decision to pause all volunteering in the garden was not made lightly.
“It is a necessary step to address serious concerns regarding the behaviours, attitudes, and values exhibited by some members of the team.
“A culture where individuals feel free to act or speak without regard for others cannot be allowed to continue. This had a significant impact on team cohesion and the overall effectiveness of our work.”
The trust said the gardeners ‘do not reflect their respectful and inclusive culture’
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The gardeners had allegedly displayed “instances of behaviour, language, or attitude that do not reflect the respectful and inclusive culture we strive for”.
They claimed the allegations were a complete surprise and were unsure what the managers were referring to.
After a backlog of emails with the trust’s director of people, Tina Lewis, she concluded that the trust “will not be engaging in further correspondence”.
Mr Field said: “Not one of our concerns or questions had been addressed. Our complaint had merely been sent back to the managers we were complaining about was rather like asking the prisoner in the dock to declare a verdict and not the judge and jury.
“But then we were only volunteers who could not take our cause to a tribunal. It seems our only recourse is to the media and court of public opinion.”
A trust spokesman said: “We have a legal obligation to protect people’s confidentiality, regardless of what any individual wishes to share publicly, so we can’t comment on any individual case.
“Earlier this summer, we held a review to secure the future care of the gardens at Mottistone and ensure all volunteer and staff teams can thrive in a positive, respectful and welcoming environment.
“Following this review, some volunteers chose not to continue, and we respect those individual decisions.”