On June 19, the National Trust paused all volunteering at Mottistone Manor garden on the Isle of Wight, effectively ending the work of 13 veteran gardeners who formed the garden’s core, known to many as the Friday Gang. The volunteers, aged between 50 and 80, say they were blindsided by the move and told only that their attitude and values did not align with the charity’s aim of a respectful and inclusive culture. They have yet to be told what they allegedly did wrong, they say, leaving them devastated and unsure how to move forward.
The garden has long been a source of local pride and a draw for visitors. It was designed in the 1960s by Lady Vivien Nicholson and, over the decades, became known for its roses, yew hedges and kitchen garden. It has appeared on Gardeners' Question Time and was famously used as the backdrop for Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter’s wedding in 2015 when the top meadow was covered by a single tent. The volunteers say they formed the garden’s backbone for years, tending borders, pruning hedges, and engaging with visitors on Fridays with fond memories of cake and tea from Gillian Shannon and the group’s shared routines. Thirteen volunteers, aged 50 to 80, were the core gardening team until this summer. Gillian started volunteering in 2010, while Gerry and Steve Newberry joined six years ago. Graham Field, 76, and his wife Jackie, 75, had been helping for 12 years; Martin ran the kitchen garden; Barbara had more than two decades on site; Pauline had ten years of service. They recall a happy workplace that extended into the community and even included Christmas gatherings funded by the Trust.
Since April 2024, Claire Margetts, a newly qualified graduate from the National Trust’s scholarship scheme, served as stand-in head gardener. The volunteers say they welcomed her and offered help as she settled in. 'We found her somewhere to stay. We gave her a bed,' Gerry recalls. 'We joined her for lunch. We invited her for dinner,' adds Jackie. 'We even baked her a cake for her 40th birthday and wrote cards,' Gillian adds. The volunteers emphasized their depth of experience, noting that several had run their own horticultural businesses or studied garden design. Ed Hinch, the long-serving head gardener who died in February last year after 27 years at Mottistone, had left a void that the volunteers attempted to fill with a large temporary rota and hands-on support.
The tensions appeared to grow after changes were made to the gardens. The group says the head gardener ripped up the rose garden to reflect a Sicilian theme and replaced the red, gold and blue border in front of the manor with dahlias and daisies. Visitors began asking why the garden looked dishevelled. 'We couldn't just sit there and say nothing,' Gillian says. 'Of course she was entitled to make changes, but they were vast, and however much we asked, they never told us the plan.' As the changes mounted, the volunteers say their tasks shifted toward more routine, lower-intensity work, such as deadheading and edging, and some members felt marginalized. Martin, who managed the kitchen garden, felt sidelined and stopped returning. Pauline departed last December, telling colleagues, 'This is not what I signed up to.' They were even instructed not to speak with visitors, a policy they describe as miserable and bordering on bullying.
The June pause email arrived with the explanation that volunteering would be paused to allow a review and a shift toward conservation-based volunteers. The wording reportedly evolved in subsequent messages, but the volunteers say no concrete examples were provided to explain what had changed or what had gone wrong. 'We were gobsmacked,' Gillian recalls. 'We were thinking: who is this then? Who is this person? It didn’t make sense, because it wasn’t us.' The volunteers insist they had earned praise in newsletters and social media for years, and feel they were blindsided by the abrupt decision.
As the garden’s condition deteriorates, Graham Field is the only Friday Gang member who still visits regularly. He describes overgrown hedges, patchy grass, and more weeds where order once reigned, with sections roped off and facilities aging. 'It is heart-breaking because they are not on top of it. Not at all,' he says, reflecting on the contrast between today and a 2020 visit when the roses perfumed the air and the lower garden’s spiral border drew admiration. The kitchen garden now lies largely empty, save for a few carrots and pumpkins, underscoring the sense of unfinished business and a garden that once thrived under volunteer stewardship.
National Trust officials say they cannot discuss individual cases to protect confidentiality, but stress that the review aimed to secure the garden’s future care and ensure all volunteer and staff teams thrive in a positive, respectful and welcoming environment. A spokesperson added that after the review, some volunteers chose not to continue. The decision at Mottistone is not seen in isolation by Restore Trust, which notes similar pauses at other properties and says the trend raises concerns about how heritage organizations balance tradition with evolving expectations on inclusivity and governance.
The Mottistone dispute has stirred conversations within the local community and among regular visitors who remember the garden as a living showcase of horticultural care and social history. For the volunteers who left, the garden remains a touchstone of decades of friendship and shared achievement, and their questions about why their service is in limbo without a clear explanation persist. In the broader landscape of heritage volunteering, the episode underscores a persistent tension between long-standing volunteer culture and a contemporary emphasis on inclusive leadership and formal training, leaving many wondering what comes next for Mottistone’s renowned grounds.