Trust to mark centenary with fund-raising drive: Britain's leading conservation body aims to increase its wealth and influence. Nicholas Schoon reports

THE NATIONAL Trust is planning major celebrations for its 100th year in 1995. There will be concerts, fireworks, art exhibitions, even a lecture on the history of the stately lavatory entitled 'Temples of Convenience'.

But the trust is also planning to use its centenary to increase its considerable wealth and influence still further.

Sir Angus Stirling, director- general of the heritage and landscape conservation charity, said yesterday that the trust would be launching a major appeal for funds 'which will raise the trust's income permanently'. It will be seeking sponsors - individual and corporate - to help fund 100 priority conservation projects in historic buildings and the countryside.

The trust has much to celebrate apart from being 100 years old. It has proved to be virtually recession proof, with the number of members and its income rising smoothly over the past few troubled years. Even its income from legacies has continued to grow - at a time when other charities have seen sharp falls. The trust puts much effort into meeting with solicitors, accountants and financial advisers around the country, asking them to put the case for supporting the charity tax efficiently to their clients.

At its foundation in 1895, the membership stood at 100. It reached 100,000 members in 1961, 1 million in 1981 and now stands at 2.2 million, much larger than any comparable organisation and more than twice the combined membership of all British political parties.

Its portfolio also dwarfs that of other conservation bodies, royalty and the aristocracy. The trust owns or looks after 223 houses, 159 gardens, 670,000 acres of open countryside and 530 miles of coastline. Yet, Sir Angus insisted, it would be a mistake to perceive it as a wealthy organisation because of heavy repair and restoration bills running at pounds 37m a year.

He said the trust had a pounds 165m backlog of major restoration and repair work and was underspending by pounds 5m a year. 'We need to have this increase to make a serious impact on the deficit,' he added.

The trust is relying heavily on sponsorship deals to pay for the centenary events, setting up deals with leading corporations such as British Airways, the Rover Group, British Gas and Kodak. The trust's membership is of great interest to these sponsors because they tend to be relatively affluent.

Yesterday's press conference to announce some centenary events reflected the trust's prestige and influence. The Prince of Wales is to be the centenary patron and the event itself was held in the old London home of the Princess of Wales's family.

The Spencers stopped living in the sumptuous mid-18th century mansion near St James's Palace in the 1920s but their trustees retain the freehold. The building has been leased for 125 years to the Rothschild Investment Trust and pounds 13.5m has been spent on painstaking restoration.

The National Trust's three founders, Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, were pioneer 'greens' with a left-wing bent who were largely concerned with securing 'open-air living rooms' for the urban poor - green spaces near large cities. Next year, a new variety of rose, pink and old fashioned in style, will be named after Octavia.

(Photograph omitted)