Volunteer House Room Steward, Weston Park
Role Title: Volunteer House Room Steward
Reporting to: Gallery & Learning Coordinator and Security Supervisor
Accountable to: Curator & Head of Learning and Chief Executive.
Weston was the ancestral home to the Earls of Bradford and contains internationally important collections of art and antiques, which reflect the collecting passions of the Newport and Bridgeman families.
Volunteer Room Stewards play a very important role within the 17th Century House, ensuring that visitors to the house have an informative and enjoyable day.
Volunteer Room Stewards are required to provide information to visitors, this can be within a particular room or between a number of rooms which the room steward walks between, making sure the collection is preserved and looked after for future generations.
Purpose of Role:
- To welcome and enhance visitors enjoyment of Weston Park
- To provide information about the history of the Weston Park House
- Direct the public around the visitor route
- To maintain vigilance and awareness with regards the collection for conservation and security purposes
Main Responsibilities:
- To present a welcoming and professional image to all visitors.
- To be proactive in approaching and assisting visitors, providing information about the history of the House and collection
- To be pro-active in developing personal knowledge about the history of the House and its contents
- To be aware of other attractions and facilities available on site in order to inform the public
- To care for the collections and items on display by promoting/ensuring their safe and respectful treatment
- To understand the importance of corporate activities at Weston Park, respecting guests attending these and to share relevant information with visiting members of the public
Days and Hours of involvement:
The House is open Sunday to Tuesday during the open season over Easter and school summer holidays. Hours of duty are 12:45 until 5pm. Additional tour duties may arise during the rest of the year.
Volunteer Specification:
- An interest in the area you are volunteering within the historically rich house
- Must be reliable
- Security conscious
- Friendly, outgoing personality, greeting all visitors with a smile
- Customer focused
- Health and Safety aware
- Diplomatic
Length of your commitment to us:
The length of positions varies according to the circumstances of each person.
Weston Park’s House and Gardens are open seasonally between Whitsun and September.
Volunteer House Tour Guide, Weston Park
Role Title: Volunteer House Tour Guide
Reporting to: Curatorial & Learning Administrator and Security Supervisor
Accountable to: Curator & Head of Learning and Chief Executive
Weston was the ancestral home to the Earls of Bradford and contains internationally important collections of art and antiques, which reflect the collecting passions of the Newport and Bridgeman families.
Volunteer Guides play an important role within the 17th Century House, ensuring that visitors to the have an informative and enjoyable day. Many groups, including families, children, coach parties and corporate groups visit the House during the open season during Easter and the summer holidays.
Volunteer Tours Guides are required to give visitors guided tours around the main ground floor rooms of the House, providing information about the collection and history of the family.
Purpose of Role:
- To welcome and enhance visitors enjoyment of Weston Park.
- To provide information about the history of the Weston Park House
- Direct the public around the visitor route
- To maintain vigilance and awareness with regards the collection for conservation and security purposes
Main Responsibilities:
- To present a welcoming and professional image to all visitors.
- To be based in the House, delivering guided tours alongside the Follow Tour Guide
- To be proactive in approaching and assisting visitors, providing information about the history of the House and collection
- To be pro-active in developing personal knowledge about the history of the House and its contents
- To be aware of other attractions and facilities available on site in order to inform the public
- To care for the collections and items on display by promoting/ensuring their safe and respectful treatment.
- To be aware of, and adhere to, all health and safety guidance in place for the benefit of yourself and those around you.
- To be aware of any dangerous occurrences and report them promptly
- To be clean, smartly dressed and enthusiastic at all times
- To understand the importance of corporate activities at Weston Park, respecting guests attending these and to share relevant information with visiting members of the public
Days and Hours of involvement:
The House is open Sunday to Tuesday during the open season during Easter and school summer holidays. Hours of duty are 12:45 until 5pm. Additional tour duties may arise during the rest of the year.
Volunteer Specification:
- An interest in the area you are volunteering within the historically rich house
- Good diction and articulate, particularly when delivering tours
- Must be reliable and punctual for duty days
- Security conscious
- Friendly, outgoing personality, greeting all visitors with a smile
- Enjoys meeting people
- Customer focused
- Health and Safety aware
- Diplomatic
Length of your commitment to us:
The length of positions varies according to the circumstances of each person.
Weston Park’s House and Gardens are open seasonally between Whitsun and September. The Granary Art Gallery is open all year.
Volunteer House Follow Guide, Weston Park
Role Title: Volunteer House Follow Guide
Reporting to: Curatorial & Learning Administrator and Security Supervisor
Accountable to: Curator & Head of Learning and Chief Executive.
Weston was the ancestral home to the Earls of Bradford and contains internationally important collections of art and antiques, which reflect the collecting passions of the Newport and Bridgeman families.
All Volunteer House Guides play an important role within the 17th Century House, ensuring that visitors to the have an informative and enjoyable day. Many groups, including families, children, coach parties and corporate groups visit the House during the open season during Easter and School summer holidays and other dates in the year.
Volunteer Follow Guides are required to support House Tour Guides, guiding tour groups around each of the main ground floor rooms in the House in order to make sure the narrative of each room can be delivered to all members of the group by the House Tour Guide. Follow Guides are also required to make sure the collection is preserved and looked after for future generations.
Purpose of Role:
- To welcome and enhance visitors enjoyment of Weston Park
- To direct the public around the visitor route
- To maintain vigilance and awareness with regards the collection for conservation and security purposes
Main Responsibilities:
- To present a welcoming and professional image to all visitors
- To be based in the House, working alongside the House Tour Guide to guide groups of visitors
- Support the guide delivering tours as follow guide
- To be pro-active in developing personal knowledge about the history of the House and its contents
- To be aware of other attractions and facilities available on site in order to inform the public
- To care for the collections and items on display by promoting/ensuring their safe and respectful treatment
- To be aware of, and adhere to, all health and safety guidance in place for the benefit of yourself and those around you
- To be aware of any dangerous occurrences and report them promptly
- To be clean, smartly dressed and enthusiastic at all times
- To understand the importance of corporate activities at Weston Park, respecting guests attending these and to share relevant information with visiting members of the public
Days and Hours of involvement:
The House is open Sunday to Tuesday during the open season which runs during Easter and the summer school holidays between. Hours of duty are 12:45 until 5pm. Additional duties may arise during the rest of the year.
Volunteer Specification:
- An interest in the area you are volunteering within the historically rich house
- Good diction and articulate, particularly when delivering tours
- Must be reliable and punctual for duty days
- Security conscious
- Friendly, outgoing personality, greeting all visitors with a smile
- Enjoys meeting people
- Customer focused
- Health and Safety aware
- Diplomatic
Length of your commitment to us:
The length of positions varies according to the circumstances of each person.
Weston Park’s House and Gardens are open seasonally between Whitsun and September. The Granary Art Gallery is open all year.
Volunteer Education Assistant, Weston Park
Role Title: Volunteer Education Assistant
Reporting to: Educating Kids Outdoors (EKO)
Accountable to: Curator & Head of Learning and Chief Executive
Purpose of Role:
Volunteer Education Assistants play a vital role in supporting the activities of the Learning Department at Weston Park. Around 7000 school children aged between 4 and 11 visit Weston every year to take part in indoor and outdoor curricular based activities delivered by Educating Kids Outdoors. Education Assistants are required to participate in day activities with school groups, working alongside Education Leaders.
Education Assistants are based within the activity rooms at Weston Park for indoor activities and are based around the Park and Gardens for outdoor activities.
Main Responsibilities:
- To help children with day activities alongside the Education Leader in both indoor and outdoor activities.
- To be proactive in approaching, welcoming and assisting children and teachers with the activities, responding calmly and professionally to any unexpected issues that may arise.
- To assist the Education Manager with any preparation work for making activities, such as cutting card and making sure enough material is available for activity rooms when school groups arrive.
- To be aware of, and adhere to, all health and safety guidance in place for the benefit of yourself and those around you.
- To provide information about Weston Park and the facilities available.
- To be clean and enthusiastic at all times, dressing appropriately for the particular activity
Volunteer Specification
Skills and interests needed
- Good communication skills. Must be able work with children and adults effectively
- Excellent level of commitment and punctual for duty days
- Health and Safety aware.
- An interest in the educational activities that Weston Park has to offer
- Excellent level of commitment
- Be prepared to undergo an enhanced DBS check
Desirable knowledge
- A background in teaching and/or education
- Good knowledge of History
Hours of involvement
School group activities run Monday to Friday both in term time and during holidays.
Requested hours of service:
We request a minimum of ten sessions per season. This can include help with schools, gardens, wildlife walks, conservation work, House duties and any administrative help (when requested).
Length of your commitment to us
The length of positions varies according to the circumstances of each person.
Volunteer Art Gallery Assistant, Weston Park
Role Title: Volunteer Art Gallery Assistant
Reporting to: Curatorial & Learning Administrator and Security Supervisor
Accountable to: Curator & Head of Learning and Chief Executive.
Purpose of Role:
Weston Park’s Granary Art Gallery opened in 2009 following the conversion of the 18th Century Granary building with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This beautiful new space features monthly selling art exhibitions from contemporary artists around the country, as well as displaying a handful of historic paintings on loan to Weston Park from private collections. The Art Gallery plays an important role in supporting the charitable aims of the organisation, as all commission received from sold works goes towards providing materials for more than 6000 school children who visit Weston Park every year. Weston Park are looking for Volunteers to work within the Gallery, to assist visitors and sell works.
Main Responsibilities:
- To welcome visitors who are visiting the Art Gallery
- To provide information about Weston Park, current and future exhibitions in the Gallery
- To assist customers choosing to buy pieces and process any sales
- To make sure works are safe, responding calmly and professionally to any unexpected issues that may arise
- To be clean and enthusiastic, dressing appropriately
- To assist at Gallery private view events, welcoming guests and promoting the artists work
- To be positive about all exhibitions irrespective of personal likes or dislikes
Volunteer Specification:
Skills and interests needed
- Good communication skills
- Ability and willingness to learn about Weston Park and the exhibitions in the Art Gallery
- Health and Safety aware
- Excellent level of commitment
Desirable skills and interests
- An interest in contemporary art
- Good sales skills
Hours of involvement
The Gallery is open seven days a week. Duties are split into two sessions every day; 10:45 until 1:30 and 1:30 until 4pm. The amount of duties and days when a volunteer would like to work is flexible.
Sales Volunteer, The Lace Guild Museum
The Lace Guild Museum is a small independent accredited Museum run entirely by volunteers, housed in a detached Edwardian building in the heart of the Stourbridge Glass Quarter.
It is a specialist museum with a large collection of lace and lace related artefacts. The Museum collects both antique and contemporary lace. The Lace Guild CIO, a membership organisation and registered Education Charity, was founded nearly 50 years ago to encourage the up take and further knowledge about this fascinating heritage craft.
Volunteers are needed across the range of their activities. Knowledge of lace and lacemaking is not essential,but an interest in textiles helps. They need volunteers in a range of our activities including meeting and greeting visitors to the building, helping other volunteers with the museum, library and archive, photographing the collection and archive, light gardening duties to keep the small garden neat and tidy as well as helping with the sales of donated second hand items and publications.
Sales volunteers will
- Assist the staff member responsible for sales of Guild merchandise and second hand sales, for example taking telephone, email or website orders, assembling and packing orders to be sent out, stock maintenance, liaising with members about orders
- Could be done remotely using Etsy, Facebook, or ‘Bobbin Lace Market’
- Comply with the Lace Guild CIO’s relevant Policies and Procedures
- Represent the professional standards of the charity
Collections Volunteers, The Lace Guild Museum
The Lace Guild Museum is a small independent accredited Museum run entirely by volunteers, housed in a detached Edwardian building in the heart of the Stourbridge Glass Quarter.
It is a specialist museum with a large collection of lace and lace related artefacts. The Museum collects both antique and contemporary lace. The Lace Guild CIO, a membership organisation and registered Education Charity, was founded nearly 50 years ago to encourage the up take and further knowledge about this fascinating heritage craft.
Volunteers are needed across the range of their activities. Knowledge of lace and lacemaking is not essential, but an interest in textiles helps. They need volunteers in a range of our activities including meeting and greeting visitors to the building, helping other volunteers with the museum, library and archive, photographing the collection and archive, light gardening duties to keep the small garden neat and tidy as well as helping with the sales of donated second hand items and publications.
Collections volunteers will
- Learn about the collection and its history
- Help visitors and answer queries
- Work with other volunteers to sort, catalogue and accession items into the collections
- Keep the collections area clean and tidy
- Assist with displays
- Comply with the Lace Guild CIO’s relevant Policies and Procedures
- Represent the professional standards of the charity
Contact www.laceguild.org
Visitor Reception Volunteer, Winterbourne House and Garden
Winterbourne House is a unique heritage attraction – set within seven acres of beautiful botanic gardens. Only minutes from Birmingham city centre, Winterbourne is a hidden gem – home to beautiful antiques and over 6,000 plant species from around the world. Wander along the woodland walk, stroll through the hazelnut tunnel, cross the 1930’s Japanese Bridge or simply soak up the tranquillity of this perfectly English Edwardian home.
Role summary
As a Welcome Volunteer you will be based at Visitor Reception, ensuring that all visitors get the warm greeting that sets them up for a fantastic time at Winterbourne House. Your great face to face communication skills will help ensure that Winterbourne maintains its excellent reputation for providing exceptional customer service.
What’s involved?
After an induction and hands on training you will
- Provide a warm welcome and be the first point of interaction to visitors
- Answer visitor queries in a helpful and approachable manner
- Conduct surveys to help the museum better understand its visitors
- Sell tickets, Membership and the popular Guidebook
This role will suit you if you are any of the below…
- Outgoing and friendly
- Confident in approaching people
- Organised and have a great eye for detail
- Keen to help each customer feel special
- Computer literate and comfortable with technology
By getting involved you could…
- Make a positive impact on the visitor experience at Winterbourne by using your customer service skills
- Help us to understand our visitors better to inform our future plans and visitor offer
- Develop your skills and gain experience in a customer facing role
- Join an enthusiastic and varied team, and make new friends
Gift Shop Volunteer, Winterbourne House and Garden
Winterbourne House and Garden’s Shop Volunteers will be on hand to assist and serve customers. They’ll stock up new arrivals, know their way around all the shelves and love helping visitors find something they will enjoy.
What’s involved?
- Making visitors feel welcome and helping them enjoy their day
- Serving customers, helping them find what they’re after
- Helping customers with their purchase and logging all sales through the till system
- Cash handling and taking payments
- Promoting the shop, thinking of new ways to entice visitors to browse and helping out with relevant events
- Answering queries about the house and garden
This role will suit you if you are any of the below…
- Keen to help each customer feel special and find something they like
- Interested in helping to fundraise to support the museum’s work
- Available at least once a week
By getting involved you could…
- Use your customer service skills and knowledge of stock to help visitors
- Help with raising money to support the work
- Join an enthusiastic and varied team, and make some new friends
Contact: Enquiries@winterbourne.org.uk
Printing Press Volunteer, Winterbourne House and Garden
Experience the joy of operating Winterbourne’s antique printing presses and engaging visitors with the history and story of print.
What’s involved?
After an induction and hands on training
- You’ll be able to talk confidently to visitors about the press and its history
- You’ll be able to operate hand operated presses.
- Print stock for the gift shop including gift bags and greeting cards
- Assist with sorting, cleaning and collating print type, machines and associated items.
This role will suit you if you are any of the below…
- Outgoing and friendly
- Someone who is experienced in craft, art and or print techniques in either a personal or employed capacity
- Interested in social and or industrial history
- Someone who has great attention to detail
- Available once a week for a minimum of 2.5 hours
By getting involved you could…
- Make a positive impact on the visitor experience at Winterbourne by using your customer service skills and newly found knowledge of the Winterbourne Press
- See your creations for sale in the shop, helping to finance the museum’s work
- Develop your understanding of Health and Safety
- Join an enthusiastic and varied team, and make new friends
Contact: Enquiries@winterbourne.org.uk
