Alfriston Clergy House of the nascent, but unknown, National Trust to see if it might be interested in taking on the Clergy House. The SPAB put him in touch with Canon Rawnsley, one of the National Trust's founders. Before the Trust decided to acquire the building another founder of the Trust, Octavia Hill, contacted the Society for advice. In her letter she said that they "will be asked to 'restore' it, so far as that odious word means preserve from decay of course we should wish to do so." This dislike of damaging 19th century restoration practices was confirmed by the National Trust
Brenda Rawnsley 1939, she enlisted in the ATS Officer Cadet training unit, but soon left to work for the Ministry of Economic Warfare in London. Through mutual friends she met Flt Lt Derek Rawnsley, who had made history by flying solo in a Tiger Moth from Australia to Oxford. In 1937 Lt Rawnsley had founded the Federal Union Movement with Charles Kimber and Patrick Ransome, seeking the unification of Europe to avoid war. Hugh-Jones and Rawnsley were married in February 1941, but he was immediately posted overseas in the RAF. By the end of 1941, Mrs Rawnsley was a Women's Auxiliary Air