In 2025, two mem­bers of the Na­tion­al Trust of Trinidad and To­ba­go qui­et­ly set an ex­tra­or­di­nary ex­am­ple of com­mit­ment to her­itage ed­u­ca­tion. Stel­la Sandy, a re­tiree, and Au­dra Mitchell, a work­ing pro­fes­sion­al, each at­tend­ed 16 Na­tion­al Trust tours over the course of the year—demon­strat­ing how ac­ces­si­ble, well-cu­rat­ed her­itage ex­pe­ri­ences can in­spire sus­tained pub­lic en­gage­ment.

Both women were first in­tro­duced to the Na­tion­al Trust by friends, un­der­scor­ing the en­dur­ing pow­er of word-of-mouth in build­ing cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ties.

Mitchell, who joined the Na­tion­al Trust in 2024, cred­its the or­gan­i­sa­tion’s tours with deep­en­ing her un­der­stand­ing of the na­tion’s past.

“I was in­tro­duced by a friend, and from there I be­came ad­dict­ed,” she said. “Ad­dict­ed to learn­ing more about our beau­ti­ful Trinidad and To­ba­go through the work of the Na­tion­al Trust, es­pe­cial­ly through the tours. Each one adds a new lay­er of un­der­stand­ing.”

For Sandy, the tours of­fered not on­ly ed­u­ca­tion but al­so a strong sense of con­nec­tion.

“I at­tend­ed the first few tours with a friend,” she ex­plained, “but what stood out was the sense of com­mu­ni­ty. The tours have cre­at­ed a love­ly en­vi­ron­ment where peo­ple gen­uine­ly look out for each oth­er. You don’t feel like a stranger.”

Cen­tral to many of these ex­pe­ri­ences is Mar­lon Green, Se­nior Out­reach and Ed­u­ca­tion Of­fi­cer at the Na­tion­al Trust, as well as tour ar­chi­tect and guide. His thought­ful­ly de­signed itin­er­aries com­bine his­tor­i­cal re­search, sto­ry­telling and on-site in­ter­pre­ta­tion, bring­ing her­itage spaces and lived ex­pe­ri­ences vivid­ly to life.

Among the many tours they at­tend­ed, both women spoke fond­ly of the Merikins Tour. Sandy ex­pressed par­tic­u­lar ad­mi­ra­tion for the re­silience of the Merikin peo­ple and their de­ter­mi­na­tion to pre­serve their cul­ture, land and iden­ti­ty in the face of his­tor­i­cal chal­lenges.

The Nel­son Is­land Tour al­so left a last­ing im­pres­sion. Par­tic­i­pants gained valu­able in­sight in­to the is­land’s lay­ered his­to­ry—from its role as an im­mi­gra­tion and quar­an­tine sta­tion for East In­di­an in­den­tured labour­ers be­tween 1866 and 1917 to its lat­er use as a de­ten­tion cen­tre dur­ing pe­ri­ods of labour un­rest and the 1970 Black Pow­er Move­ment. The tour al­so ex­plored the is­land’s ear­li­er In­dige­nous her­itage and its World War II mil­i­tary past.

To­day, Nel­son Is­land is a Na­tion­al Her­itage Site man­aged by the Na­tion­al Trust of Trinidad and To­ba­go, pre­served as a pow­er­ful sym­bol of na­tion­al iden­ti­ty and po­lit­i­cal strug­gle. Guid­ed tours ex­am­ine its his­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance along­side on­go­ing ef­forts at sus­tain­able eco-de­vel­op­ment and her­itage ed­u­ca­tion.

The Na­tion­al Trust al­so ac­knowl­edged Rur­al De­lights, whose gen­er­ous sup­port helped recog­nise the ded­i­ca­tion of these mem­bers through cu­rat­ed ap­pre­ci­a­tion ham­pers.

Look­ing ahead to 2026, the or­gan­i­sa­tion has an ex­pand­ed slate of tours and her­itage pro­grammes in de­vel­op­ment, con­tin­u­ing its mis­sion to make his­to­ry ac­ces­si­ble, rel­e­vant and en­gag­ing for all. Mem­bers of the pub­lic are en­cour­aged to learn more about up­com­ing tours and mem­ber­ship op­por­tu­ni­ties by vis­it­ing www.na­tion­al­trust.tt.