The John Clare Trust Volunteer Programme

If you have some spare time and enjoy meeting people of all ages - why not join the John Clare Trust as a Volunteer. As a volunteer you can help the John Clare Trust to inspire present and future generations to understand and enjoy our natural and historic environment through conservation, learning and customer care.

Volunteering Opportunities include:

If you would like further information, please telephone: 01733 253330 or email team@clarecottage.org 

Volunteer Opportunities

We encourage people of all ages, experiences and backgrounds to apply for our volunteer program. If you think you have something to contribute to the work of The John Clare Trust, please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

Volunteer experience

Volunteers work alongside our small and dedicated team of staff at the John Clare Cottage located in Helpston near Peterborough. We introduce Volunteers to all aspects of our work and ensure that the input they make during their time with us forms a relevant and valuable contribution to our ongoing projects.

Volunteers work with the Education Team, Environmental Team, Fundraising Team, Retail Team, Cultural Team, Community Team, Artistic Team, and Project Team. 

Volunteers will usually work on one or two projects during their time with us and their tasks usually include: background project research, literature searches and reviews; writing up and drafting briefings, meeting memo's, helping draft articles, speeches and presentations, participation in project meetings; arranging, conducting and transcribing research interviews; helping to organise and run events, commenting on draft reports and project proposals; and a variety of other responsibilities such as the garden, retail, promotion and cottage support particular to a specific project element. 

Invariably, Volunteers also take on a number of organisational and administrative responsibilities though these will take up no more than a quarter of their overall time. 


Volunteer support

David Dykes is the volunteer coordinator in charge of overseeing all volunteer matters at The John Clare Trust, including Volunteers' pastoral care whilst working with us. Each volunteer is also assigned a member of staff who serves as their line manager for the duration of the Voluntary activity. Line managers are responsible for assigning and managing Volunteers work load and answering all work related questions. Volunteers are expected to work independently, but keep an open line of communication with their line manager and an intern coordinator. 

Working week

The working week is dependent on the volunteer role. The working day is 10:00am to 4:00pm although many staff start earlier and finish later. 

How to Apply

Application

For more information including the PDF downloads Volunteer Fact Sheet and Volunteer enquiry and registration form please visit our download page 

The John Clare Trust welcomes applications for Volunteers throughout the year. We regularly update the webpage with details of specific Volunteer opportunities but also welcome speculative applications. Our previous Volunteers have had a broad range of academic and professional experience and we appreciate applications from people with a background in any discipline.

Please send us a CV and covering letter to dm3@clarecottage.org 

To help us process your application, please make clear in your letter:

We try to process applications as quickly as possible and aim to get back to you within three weeks.


If you have any questions about Volunteer opportunities please contact David Dykes.