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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. 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.
Museum Studios
Making old-fashioned ice-cream in the Kitchen Studio
Our Kitchen, Military and Costume Studios run a changing programme of activities throughout the year which involve staff and volunteers working together to demonstrate and interpret objects from our collections and appropriate replicas.
During school holidays, the Studio activities are delivered by guides and volunteers, whilst in term time, volunteers have the option of several different activities which they can run on their own or with volunteer colleagues.
Examples of recent activities include:
Kitchen Studio - A Taste of Prison Preparing typical 18th Century prison food for our visitors. Making gruel and broth for visitors to taste, two of the staple ingredients in a typical prison menu of the day.
Military Studio - Stand and Deliver Looking at weapons and equipment used to enforce law and order in the 18th Century such as police cutlasses, militia muskets, handcuffs and truncheons, etc.
Costume Studio - Gorgeous Georgians Helping our visitors get kitted out as fully fledged Georgians with replica items of costume. Seeing how much work went into following fashion in the 18th Century.
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 object handling, customer care and activity specific training as well as Basic Food Hygiene Certificated courses for the Kitchen Studio.
Volunteer sessions are generally three hours and volunteers can do as many sessions in a week as they wish. We are ideally looking for volunteers who can commit to doing regular sessions for a minimum of three months.
Raindale Mill
Raindale Mill is a reconstructed early 19th century flour mill which was moved from the North York Moors to the grounds of York Castle Museum in the 1960s.
We are looking for enthusiastic people to join our team of volunteers to open the mill to visitors, explain the building's history, demonstrate our collections of objects which visitors can try (quern stones, tools etc) and talk about milling in the area.
No specialist knowledge is required and training will be provided, although a general interest in history and the region is an advantage.
The mill opens whenever volunteers are available so we are looking for volunteers who would be able to commit to a regular time slot for a period of several months.
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.
