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Volunteering
Welcome to our Volunteer Programme
York Museums Trust has an active Volunteer Programme across all of its sites and we welcome volunteers from all walks of life. Our volunteers are invaluable in helping us to achieve one of our core objectives of promoting access to the collections, gardens and buildings appropriate to the 21st Century.
We have a diverse range of volunteer projects; many are "behind the scenes" such as research projects, cataloguing or preparation of holiday activities, but we also have a number of opportunities for volunteers to be in the "front seat", interacting with visitors to enthuse and inspire them with objects from the collections that we care for.
Take Your Pick From Our Selection of Volunteering Opportunities
Click on the area you are interested in:
York Observatory
York Castle Museum
York Castle Museum Studios
York Art Gallery
Volunteer Database
Projects for which we are currently recruiting
Examining the clock in York Observatory
Volunteers work on a rota basis to open the Observatory and welcome visitors to this beautiful building in the Museum Gardens, explaining the history of the Observatory itself and the collections it houses.
No specific astronomical skills or knowledge are required, but a keen interest is essential as volunteers are asked to learn about the history of astronomy in York and impart this knowledge to visitors in an interesting and enthusiastic manner. There are opportunities for training in how to use the telescope, but this is not compulsory.
Volunteers man the Observatory in pairs and are supported by the Assistant Curator of Astronomy, the Yorkshire Museum Manager and the Volunteers Manager. Volunteer sessions are usually three hours at a time on weekday afternoons or Saturdays across lunchtime, but do not necessarily have to be every week.
Raindale Mill
Raindale Watermill orginally stood at the foot of the secluded Raindale Valley in the North Yorkshire moors. Like many mills in North Yorkshire it provided for purely small scale local needs, grinding wheat into flour for human consumption, and oats and barley into meal to feed livestock. The mill became redundant in 1915 and in 1935 it was offered to York Castle Museum. The mill was carefully taken apart and reconstructed on its present site, behind the museum on the banks of the River Foss, opening to the public for the first time in 1966. The mill did grind wheat up until relatively recently but the machinery has not worked fully for a few years and visitors have not been able to access this lovely building for some time.
We would like to open the mill to visitors again, giving them the opportunity to see the inside of this lovely building, learn about the history of the mill itself and milling in general. We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers who will open the mill an explain the history of the mill and the collection that it houses to museum visitors. There will be a small handling collection of objects available for visitors to try, such as a small set of quern stones and appropriate tools etc. As a volunteer you will work in pairs to open the mill, explain the history of the building and collections to visitors and talk about milling in the region. We will also run seasonally appropriate activities both inside and outside the mill. Volunteers do not need to have any knowledge or experience of milling as we will provide all the information necessary. Ideally we would like to be able to open the mill at weekends throughout the year and on at least some weekdays during school holidays.
If you have a general interest in history, would like to learn more about milling or would just like to meet a wide variety of people and add to the enjoyment of their museum visit, please contact us. We hope that this will be a long term project and particularly welcome voluntters who think they could offer us a regular time commitment for several months.
Making old-fashioned ice creeam in the Kitchen Studio
These are three themed activity spaces within York Castle Museum where staff and volunteers work together to demonstrate and interpret items from the collections to visitors. We have Kitchen, Military and Costume Studios, based on relevant parts of our social and military history collections.
Each Studio runs a varied programme of activities throughout the year which incorporate a range of actual collection objects alongside appropriate replicas. Examples of recent activities include:
Kitchen Studio - Ice Cream Exploring the methods, equipment and recipes of historic ice cream making. Demonstrators prepared ice cream using two different machines and also used antique ice cream moulds to demonstrate how to shape sorbet. Visitors were encouraged to assist in the preparation and also taste the results.
Military Studio - Dressed for Action Looking at the development of soldiers' field uniform from c1660 to the present. Volunteers helped visitors to try on a variety of replica costumes as well as demonstrating genuine examples from the military collection which reflected the conflicting ideals of ceremony and field practicality.
Costume Studio - Dressing Up Original garments from the collection were on display along with a number of replica items such as corsets and crinolines which visitors were able to try on with the assistance of the demonstrator who also explained the process of dressing in Victorian ladies underwear.
No specialist knowledge is required, though an interest in the subject area is obviously desirable. There is a full training programme attached to this project and this is an essential part of the time commitment for volunteers as most of the activities cannot be undertaken without the appropriate training. We provide presentation skills, object handling, general museum skills and activity specific training as well as Basic Food Hygiene Certificated courses for the Kitchen Studio.
All three Studios open together during holiday period whilst during term time at least one Studio is open at any one time. When they are open the Studios operate seven days a week and volunteer sessions can be as many half or whole days as the volunteer is able to do.
Helping out at a workshop in The Studio
We run holiday and weekend activities at York Art Gallery which usually involve assisting a visiting artist or our Assistant Curator of Arts Learning, to prepare and deliver informal learning sessions to family or specialist groups. This involves helping to set up the Studio and being on hand to encourage and support participants to achieve their goals in the activity.
We recruit at various times throughout the year to meet the demands of holiday activity. To register your interest, please see the instructions below for joining the volunteer database.
How to apply for current projects
If you would like to get involved with any of our current projects, please click here to download and complete a copy of our Volunteer Application Form and return it to fiona.burton@ymt.org.uk or send it by post to Fiona Burton, Volunteers Manager, York Museums Trust, York Castle Museum, The Eye of York, YORK, YO1 9RY
Future Projects
We have plans for a number of volunteer projects in the future and we frequently have small ad hoc projects coming up. If none of our current projects are for you but you would still like to explore the possibility of volunteering with us, why not join our volunteer database?
We maintain a database of potential volunteers who are sent information by e-mail about all our volunteer projects as we launch them. The information covers all our sites but you can ignore anything that doesn’t interest you. We do not use your contact details for any other purpose within York Museums Trust and we never disclose them to third parties.
How to apply to join our database
If you would like to be included on the database, please complete the online form at the bottom of this page marking the "Area of Interest" as Database. If you are only interested in volunteering at one of our sites, eg York Art Gallery, please also specify this in the "Area of Interest" box.