As a volunteer we hope to be able to offer you the opportunity to develop your valuable skills and to ‘see behind the scenes’ of these historic Royal Palaces. We actively welcome as many people as possible from our local communities to join the volunteer programme.
All our volunteers have to be security cleared so must be 18 years or older.
Examples of the areas in which volunteers are currently involved include:
• Visitor Support
• Education & Family Learning
• Outreach & Community Involvement
• Retail
• Gardens
• Cataloguing and Archiving
• Room describing
• Members’ Room
Volunteer Opportunities – Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace has undergone an exciting and innovative £12 million transformation project and re-opened on 26 March 2012. Join our established and skilled team as a volunteer and help us deliver a 5 star experience to thousands of visitors from across the UK and around the world.
We have three roles for volunteers:
Visitor Support Volunteer
Supporting the explainer team by being an enthusiastic, warm and friendly face to all customers, visitors, clients and guests. Your natural warmth, enthusiasm and flair for delighting the customer will be crucial as you help visitors to explore Kensington and find their way to the palace’s exciting new narrative routes. Your knowledge of the palace, its stories and its facilities will enable you to provide a friendly and individual experience for our diverse audience of visitors. A love of history and a passion for working with people is essential! Language skills are desirable.
Welcome Volunteer
Your role will be essential in creating an excellent first impression of Kensington and starting each visitor’s palace journey. You will give a bespoke welcome by providing key information about the palace, its facilities and the local area. You will help to manage visitor expectations and deal with a diverse range of enquiries, from introducing our exciting new ‘Victoria Revealed’ exhibition to directing visitors to a fresh cup of coffee and a delicious slice of cake at the new Kensington café! Your friendly personality and enthusiasm for the palace will create the perfect start to a splendid day out!
Group Entrance Volunteer
Your important role will be to provide a warm welcome to Kensington Palace for pre-arranged groups by preparing packs of information about the exhibition and organising group arrival and entry so that it is as seamless as possible. You will offer a tailored welcome to each group by liaising with the tour leader and providing key information about the palace, its facilities and the local area. You will work closely with the front of house team to ensure that each visit is as enjoyable and special as possible.
How to find out more
If you are interested in applying for this role, please complete a volunteer registration form and return it to Sarah Levine, Apartment 45, Hampton Court Palace, KT8 9AU or email Sarah.Levine@hrp.org.uk. Forms available to download from our website – http://www.hrp.org.uk/ or http://www.hrp.org.uk/aboutus/workingforus/ourvolunteers
Anticipated time contribution / Next steps
Volunteers will need to be able to offer a regular duty of once a week or once a fortnight.
Group interviews for these roles will take place at Kensington Palace on Thursday, 14 June from 2 – 4 pm. Following the interviews, successful candidates will be invited to attend a Volunteer Training afternoon on Saturday, 16 June 2012.
Volunteers – a vital link...
We believe that volunteers provide an important and invaluable link between the historic buildings in our care, our visitors and the local community.
Volunteers complement and support the work of our staff and enable us to further enrich and enhance the visitor experience and to undertake projects that we would not normally be able to carry out.
Equally we can offer our volunteers the chance to attend seminars, walks, talks and training to further develop their interest and knowledge about our five Palaces.
Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity, we receive no funding from the government or the Crown so the support of our volunteers is invaluable.
How to apply...
Volunteering is open to anyone aged 18 and over. Please complete and return both the Volunteer Registration and Equal Opportunities forms which can be found at the bottom of this page.
The information that you provide us on the registration form will enable us to match your skills and interests with the volunteering opportunities available within the organisation.
Please be aware that our volunteer programme is currently over subscribed and we are therefore operating a waiting list.
If you would like to provide any additional information, not detailed on the form, please write this on a separate piece of paper, attach it to your form and send it to:
Sarah Searle
Volunteer Assistant
Human Resources Department
Historic Royal Palaces
Apartment 45
Hampton Court Palace
Surrey KT8 9AU
Email: Sarah.Searle@hrp.org.uk or volunteers@hrp.org.uk
What next...
All registration forms will be acknowledged upon receipt. Your forms will be viewed and if a volunteer opportunity is available to match your interests and skills, you will be invited for an informal interview to discuss these in greater detail.
It should be noted that all our volunteers are required to have security clearance, relevant forms will be sent to you for completion with your volunteer agreement. In addition we will also take up two references.
Due to the high number of enquiries we receive during the year we can only keep your application on our files for up to 3 months.
Volunteering support...
After 30 hours of volunteering and in recognition of your volunteer contribution to Historic Royal Palaces all volunteers receive the following support:
• Free individual entry, on production of your volunteer pass, to all five Historic Royal Palaces’ sites
• 50% discount, on production of your volunteer pass, at all HRP catering outlets
• 10% discount, on production of your volunteer pass, at all HRP retail outlets
• Reimbursement of travel costs incurred for travel to and from the volunteer location (up to a maximum of £8 per day) or 20 miles per round trip for mileage.
• Liability insurance is provided for all volunteers engaged in services for Historic Royal Palaces. Volunteers should be aware that any activities carried out for Historic Royal Palaces will not contravene any personal insurance held by them.
Work Experience placements...
Throughout the year work experience placements are arranged shadowing our State Apartment Warders and assisting in the Gardens. Our focus is towards Year 10 students from our local community schools.
For any work placement or work experience opportunity enquiry, please email either Sarah.Searle@hrp.org.uk or volunteers@hrp.org.uk
Volunteer involvement...
Please click here to enjoy some of the stories written by volunteers and their volunteer co-ordinators.
