NTS – Nature, Beauty & Heritage for Everyone

Guest speaker: Phil Long, OBE FRSE

Wednesday 18th November 2026, 7pm at the St Andrews Bowling Club.

We would be delighted to welcome you to this year’s Annual Lecture with Philip Long OBE FRSE, Chief Executive of the National Trust for Scotland, speaking on the past, present and future of the National Trust for Scotland. Founded in 1931 to care for and ensure access to Scotland’s heritage in its care, the Trust is Scotland’s largest membership charity and independent conservation body, caring for properties across all of Scotland, from the dual-UNESCO recognised archipelago of St Kilda off the west coast, to Robert Adam’s masterpiece Culzean Castle in Ayrshire. The Trust is looking forward to celebrating its centenary in 2031, and Philip Long will give an overview of the broad and diverse responsibilities of the organisation, and its plans for the future. 

Philip Long is the Chief Executive of the National Trust for Scotland.  Philip joined the Trust in 2020 from V&A Dundee, of which he was the founding Director from 2011, and which opened in 2018 with a mission to promote understanding of the designed world. Prior to that, he was Senior Curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, where his academic specialisation in Scottish and wider British art and design was developed, and on which he has organised many exhibitions and published and lectured widely, including on Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Sir Basil Spence, the Scottish Colourists, the Edinburgh School of Artists, and many contemporary British and international artists and designers. He was co-editor of The Story of Scottish Design (published in 2018), the first comprehensive history of Scotland’s design heritage.  He is currently a Board Member of Creative Scotland, a Trustee of the Friends of the Royal Academy of Arts, and a member of the Glasgow Tourism Advisory Forum. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, and has received Honorary Awards from the universities of Lancaster and Essex. In 2019 he was the recipient of a unique award for Transforming Scotland from the Institute of Directors and was appointed OBE in 2020 for services to culture and heritage. 

General admission £9, Trust Members £7

A reception with refreshments to follow. Donations kindly accepted.

Memberships available at https://tinyurl.com/STAPTMembership.