Can you donate desperately-needed items to Wentworth Woodhouse?

Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust is appealing to businesses to upcycle or donate desperately-needed items.

“We have a long list of equipment which would help us greatly, but it’s early days for us and we can’t afford the vital pieces we urgently need,” said Sarah McLeod, chief exeuctive of WWPT.

“We’re not proud - we will gladly take secondhand donated items. 

“We suspect many of things on our wishlist could be lying redundant at a builder's or engineering firm and promise we will put them to great use.”

Top of the wishlist is a secondhand Kubota mini cart, or a redundant golf buggy, which could be used to transport elderly visitors around the grounds and enable staff to ferry equipment needed at outdoor events. 

Currently, the only way is for a “chain gang” of staff to pass items down the line.

A fork lift truck is also on the list, Ms McLeod said. 

“We have to carry everything by hand right now, including stock for our cafe and bars, building materials and refuse,” she said.

“That involves too many people, takes too much time and lifting heavy things is no good for our backs.”

A portable building is needed for the volunteers who are working hard to develop the gardens, as they have nowhere in the grounds to eat, wash their hands and take shelter in bad weather.

If you happen to have a spare stash of crowd barriers, that would come in handy, too.

And last but not least, in their bid to raise the pennies, WWPT need a set of semi-permanent toilets so visitors at outdoor events, particularly those with disabilities, can spend a penny in comfort.

Anyone willing to donate or help fund an item on the Wentworth Woodhouse wishlist should contact Sarah McLeod on 01226 351161 or at [email protected].

Meanwhile, regular visitors to the Big House may have noticed the ripples being ironed out of its famously bumpy approach.

The pothole-pockmarked driveway is having a much-needed free facelift thanks to Rotherham’s Steelphalt, which has given its products, experience and workers’ time for free.

WWPT chief executive Sarah Mcleod said: “We are so grateful for this tremendous act of corporate generosity from SteelPhalt.

“Wentworth Woodhouse is such an important site and the access road has been a significant problem for a long time. Thank You to all who have made this happen.”