Supporter groups in Yorkshire

A group of people standing listening to a tour guide — Enjoy visits to local properties or trips further afield. | © National Trust Images / Annapurna Mellor

Join a supporter group in Yorkshire and meet with other National Trust members and volunteers who feel passionate about the same things you do. There are a number of supporter groups in the county, so there is sure to be one close to you.

Why join a supporter group?

Getting together with other National Trust enthusiasts, members and volunteers who feel passionate about the same things is priceless. Sharing unique experiences and finding out more about the places you care about is what being part of a local National Trust supporter group is all about.

From listening to expert talks and going on behind-the-scenes tours to taking relaxing holidays or restoring natural habitats in the great outdoors, you’ll be part of something amazing. Supporter groups promote and assist the National Trust’s work within their local area and raise money for conservation and development projects through all kinds of events.

Airedale and Wharfedale Association

Make more of your involvement with the National Trust by joining the Airedale and Wharfedale Association and participating in their many activities. Since its formation in 1971, members have raised thousands of pounds in support of Trust places and appeals.

From September to April the group meets monthly on Saturday afternoons in Shipley Library to enjoy a varied selection of entertaining and informative talks. They have ranged from the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to beekeeping and Ira Gershwin.

They organise excursions from February to September, enabling members and their friends to enjoy Trust properties, gardens and theatrical events. Members can also join the five-day annual tour to visit places further afield.

Cleveland Association

The Cleveland Association, founded in 1981, is open to all National Trust members, volunteers and members of affiliated organisations. Members come from the Teesside area together with South Durham and the most northerly parts of North Yorkshire. The Association particularly looks to support Ormesby Hall and the countryside estates of Co. Durham and North Yorkshire.

The objectives of the Association are to bring together people with a common interest, to broaden members' knowledge of the Trust through a programme of activities, including:

Lectures

Outings and social events

Fundraising activities

Providing a local/regional/national link

Membership provides an opportunity to attend Association activities, meeting people with a common interest and exchanging views with them about the National Trust and other matters.

Members also benefit from newsletters published three times a year, reviewing recent activities and including information about upcoming events.

Doncaster Association

The Doncaster Association formed in 1982 and welcomes National Trust members and volunteers to enjoy the added benefits of belonging to a local group.

They have an established range of events throughout the year and aim to provide at least two occasions each month for members to socialise and make new friends, as well as support the National Trust.

Events, which include walks, talks, trips and dinners, enable the association to raise around £3,000 each year to support the work of the National Trust at Nostell and Clumber Park, as well as other district and national appeals.

Volunteers working in the woodland at Wentworth Castle, Yorkshire, clearing fallen leaves — Volunteer at Wentworth Castle Gardens | © National Trust Images/John Millar

East Yorkshire Association

With around 150 members, membership to the East Yorkshire Association is open to National Trust members and volunteers. Anyone with an interest in historic places and landscapes is welcome to join this group, which dates to 1985.

Monthly illustrated talks on a wide variety of topics take place throughout the winter, except in December. Summer brings a programme of day trips to places of interest, often but not always to National Trust places.

Visits to at least some National Trust properties are also included in a summer annual away break (usually Monday to Friday) by coach to different parts of the country. The Lake District, Devon, Surrey and Norfolk have featured in recent years.

Please come along to any of the talks – just turn up at Cottingham Civic Hall on the third Thursday of the month at 7.30pm.

Friends of East Riddlesden Hall

The Friends of East Riddlesden Hall is a group of mainly local people who have an interest in both the history and present running of East Riddlesden Hall.

Our purpose is to have fun while raising funds for East Riddlesden Hall. Please join us if you want to be part of a friendly group of local people and volunteers who meet monthly between October and April (inclusive) on a Thursday at 2 pm in the Airedale Barn. Noting that we are out for lunch usually in October and January. The “Speaker Meetings’ are in November after the AGM, February, March and April at our Social in The Airedale Barn. Lunch outings locally, and the Social are extra to the Subscription.

Friends of Nostell Priory

The Friends of Nostell Priory come from all walks of life and have an interest in the future preservation, conservation and promotion of Nostell Priory.

Arranged by a volunteer committee, members are offered a year-round programme of social events ranging from talks to plays and musical evenings including visits to places of interest and a short break away.

Since their formation, the Friends have raised over a quarter of a million pounds to support restoration and conservation projects at the property and occasionally, at the Church of Our Lady and St Michael in Wragby.

Harrogate and the Dales Association

The Harrogate and the Dales Association was founded in 1978. They cover Harrogate, Boroughbridge, Knaresborough, Ripon, Northallerton, Thirsk, Leyburn, Aysgarth, Wetherby, Otley and Richmond and the places nearby.

Amongst the National Trust properties they support are Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, and Brimham Rocks.

An annual programme caters for a wide range of interests and typically includes enjoyable fundraising events, social functions, a winter season of illustrated talks, as well as country walks, planned holidays, and special visits to National Trust places and other properties.

They meet for lunch on the second Wednesday of the month between October and April. They publish a lively newsletter four times a year to keep members informed of the activities of the Association.

Holme and Calder Association

The Holme and Calder Association exists to promote the work of the National Trust and to bring together those who have an interest in such matters for mutual benefit.

Their membership is drawn from a wide geographical area in West Yorkshire, including Huddersfield, Halifax and surrounding communities.

They are a very active group and offer their members a wide range of activities throughout the year. Their summer programme includes visits to National Trust and other heritage properties by coach and car, and a programme of walks, including to local Trust properties Marsden Moor and Hardcastle Crags.

From autumn to spring, they provide a programme of talks in Huddersfield and Blackley near Elland to enable as many people as possible to attend.

They also provide opportunities for members to meet at pub lunches, afternoon teas at significant local properties and more formal meals, for example at Christmas.

Visitors on a group tour leaving the coach at Cragside, Northumberland — Visitors on a group tour leaving the coach at Cragside | © National Trust Images/Arnhel de Serra

The Leeds and District Association

The Leeds and District Association was founded in 1974 and has an active membership. It covers all areas in and around both Leeds and Wakefield.

Their objectives are to promote interest in and support for the work of the National Trust by enabling members to get more from their membership. The group holds monthly talks from October to May on Tuesday mornings in Headingley, Leeds.

The groups regularly supports their local properties Nostell and East Riddlesden Hall, but have also generously supported other, predominently Yorkshire, properties in recent years.

Sheffield Association

Founded in 1972, the Sheffield Association has around 300 National Trust members, with many of them living in Sheffield and the surrounding area. Membership is open to members of the National Trust and affiliated organisations and to holders of a valid National Trust volunteer card.

They support and promote the National Trust and to make National Trust membership even more enjoyable by providing a varied programme of activities for their members.

National Trust places recently helped by the group include the Longshaw Estate (school transport to the Activity Centre), Woolsthorpe Manor (telescopes for the Science Discovery Centre and replica costumes for the children), the Yorkshire Dales and Nostell Priory.

West Yorkshire National Trust Volunteers Group

West Yorkshire National Trust Volunteers (WYNTV) is a conservation volunteer group founded in 1983.

They help at several National Trust locations throughout West and North Yorkshire by doing work such as digging, fencing, clearing and planting.

Tasks are usually arranged every other Sunday throughout the year at locations such as:

East Riddlesden Hall

Brimham Rocks

Beningbrough Hall

Hardcastle Crags

Yorkshire Dales

They also usually arrange two weekend tasks per year. One in Borrowdale in the Lake District in April, and another at Cragside, Northumberland in November.

Their programme of events includes a number of social events such as country walks, ten-pin bowling nights and, our Pudding Evening (where members bring their favourite puddings for tasting).

York Association

For 50 years the York Association of the National Trust (YANT) has been a welcome focus for people from in and around York, organising a wide range of year-round activities.

The main objective of all the activities they arrange is to enable members to meet and spend time with people who have similar interests. The social side of the activities is perhaps the most rewarding

The walks group is very active, with half-day, full-day and extended guided walks taking place throughout the year. They also organise regular talks on subjects of interest to members.

The organised day trips, on a host of different themes, are very popular. You will be picked up by coach, usually from a central point in York, and dropped off at the end of the day. Every year they organise some six or seven holidays, one or two to continental Europe, the rest within Britain.

Their social activities, such as coffee mornings, musical events, mystery tours with lunch and a Summer Garden Party, are very popular. You could also attend the informal drop-in light lunch every month at a local venue.

Any surplus funds they have at the end of the year are donated to local National Trust properties.