Volunteer with us
With over 200 registered volunteers contributing in many ways – supporting conservation work, leading education sessions, assisting at events and running guided tours at Longthorpe Tower, there’s something for everyone. At Nene Park Trust, volunteering is a great opportunity to help us protect heritage and wildlife while supporting spaces for recreation, education and leisure.
Nene Park Trust volunteers make a huge difference both out and about in the park and also behind the scenes in all elements of our charity objectives. Find out more about how you can get involved and join our team.
Alternatively you can email volunteer@neneparktrust.org.uk or call us on 01733 234193 to arrange a face to face chat.
Please note that you need to be over 18 years old for our volunteer roles (unless otherwise stated).
If you would like to volunteer with us as a corporate group or organisation, rather than an individual, please get in touch at volunteer@neneparktrust.org.uk to chat about our Corporate Conservation Days.
Nene Park Trust is committed to the safeguarding and welfare of its employees, volunteers and visitors. Our safeguarding policy is issued to all new volunteers as part of our induction process and has been created to ensure that all individuals coming into contact with the Trust are safe and free from harm and therefore, where appropriate, we ask our volunteers to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
Why volunteer with us?
Volunteering is a great way of meeting new people, gaining skills and creating meaningful connections whilst giving back to the community, improving wellbeing and sense of belonging. Volunteering can also help towards achieving future employment goals.
If you choose to support us by volunteering your time, energy and skills, we will:
- Provide you with a full induction
- Provide you with a volunteer supervisor to support and guide you within your role
- Provide a welcoming, safe and supportive volunteer environment
- Match your skills and experience to the right roles and tasks
- Listen and respond to your feedback
- Provide you with a uniform and required PPE for the role
- Give you free parking and 10% discount in our shop and cafes
Explore different volunter roles
We have over 20 different volunteer roles across the work of Nene Park Trust, including:
- Visitor Welcome Ranger
- Sensory Walk Leader
- Events Assistant
- Conservation
- Longthorpe Tower guide
- Visitor Centre assistant
Volunteering FAQs
When we receive your online application to volunteer, we will invite you in for an initial meeting with one of our volunteer team who will give you a brief introduction to Nene Park Trust, chat to you about the volunteer role you are interested in and explain what you can expect from us as well as what we need from you.
You will receive training on our volunteer management system so you know how to sign up to sessions and log your hours and you will also receive manual handling training. There will be plenty of opportunities at this meeting to ask any questions or discuss any concerns you may have about volunteering at Nene Park Trust.
All of our volunteers are assigned a volunteer supervisor specific to their role. Volunteer Supervisors will support you in your role and will ensure that you have all of the information and resources you need. You can also go to your Volunteer Supervisor if you have any questions or concerns, or you can always contact one of the volunteer team members.
We welcome applications from all and are committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for our volunteers. We also have a number of volunteer incentives including free parking, a discount in the café and shop and two volunteer social events each year.
We have a variety of different roles available so if one role doesn’t quite work for you, then you are able to switch to another role.
All of our volunteering opportunities are for anyone aged 18 or over. However, we sometimes have specific roles available for young people, such as our Young Rangers and our Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award volunteering opportunity.
We value any amount of time that volunteers can give us and most of all we value commitment. In order to manage things effectively and efficiently, we ask that you can give us, on average, at least 2 hours a week or 8 hours a month.
We understand that volunteers donate their time when they can and we also encourage applications from anyone who may be looking for a short term volunteering opportunity, such as over the summer holidays whilst at university.
As most of our volunteer roles involve working outside in the park, we advise that you wear warm, comfortable clothes. All of our volunteers will receive a branded polo shirt and fleece and we will also provide you with any other equipment or personal protective equipment that you require for your role.
All of our volunteers can have their car added to our volunteer parking register, giving you access to free parking in our car parks all year round regardless of whether you are volunteering at that moment, or just visiting the park.
When you first join us and when you come along to your initial volunteer induction, you can park in our Ferry Meadows car park. Once your induction has finished, a staff member will let you out so you don’t have to pay.
We have a variety of ways that our volunteers can feedback to us. If you would like to make a suggestion or comment you can:
Speak to your volunteer supervisor
Email the volunteer team: volunteer@neneparktrust.org.uk
Drop a suggestion in the anonymous comments box in the Volunteer Hub at Ferry Meadows
Speak to a volunteer representative of the volunteer focus group
Ex-offenders are welcome to volunteer with us. We know that volunteering can help with progression towards employment if someone has a criminal record. We will ask you to declare any unspent criminal convictions or cautions so that we can provide support and ensure that you volunteer with us in a suitable role.
As we are a charity you can volunteer with us without losing your job centre benefits and we advise that you let your work coach know. If you are receiving carers allowance then you will need to continue to provide the required number of hours of care for that individual.
