Volunteering

Maidstone Museum is looking for volunteers to help staff with various projects and day to day tasks. Any vacancies we have available are listed below. Please note that if you have not had a response to your volunteer application within two weeks, your application has not been successful. Full details of all the roles can be found below, along with an Application Form.

Current opportunities

• Informal Learning & Events Volunteers – to assist our Learning & Events team to run activities for family groups, children and adults. Events take place on weekdays and weekends, both daytime and evenings
• Informal Learning Volunteers – school holidays, to assist the Learning Team with the running of school holiday Make it craft sessions.
• Carriage Museum Volunteer – to provide a friendly welcome and helping hand to visitors. (this will be for the 2025 season)
• Front of House volunteer – to assist Front of house with welcoming visitors and engaging with visitors in the galleries.

Background information

Volunteers are invaluable to the work we do. We have a small number of staff, and therefore volunteers provide much needed assistance in all departments here at the museum. No qualifications are required for any of our roles just enthusiasm and a willingness to commit your time and develop new skills.

Volunteer programme

We have been working with volunteers within the Collections department for some time and due to the success of this programme we are now looking to expand in our other departments. The roles on offer are very varied and will offer opportunities for learning and development within a museum environment.

Background to projects

Volunteers assist the museum in achieving its mission:

“Maidstone Museums’ purpose is to collect, preserve and imaginatively display artefacts and specimens for the education and enjoyment of the people of Maidstone and visitors to the town. We tell the story of Maidstone, its people, their natural environment, and the wider world in which they live, through the artefacts and specimens which we collect and interpret for everyone to learn from and enjoy.”

Training

Training will be given in all areas of work undertaken by volunteers, such as manual handling, documentation, database use, conservation cleaning, and procedures. Supervision will also be provided at all times until individuals feel confident enough to work unsupervised. Appropriate equipment to complete the tasks will be provided at all times.

Rewards/expenses

• Volunteers can claim a maximum of £6 expenses per day for travel, although we encourage our volunteers to consider not claiming as these are vital funds which go towards managing and maintaining our museums and funding new projects.
• Volunteers can claim public transport expenses, but cannot claim for parking or petrol allowance. If a volunteer does drive and park, they will need to find out how much the bus/train fare would be from home to the museum and claim for that (even though they are not using it). Proof of the cost (such as print outs from the bus or train fare sites), and other expenses claimed such as receipts and tickets, must be provided.
• Time sheets (which include expenses information) should be completed every month and passed to the Museum Administrator who will record the hours and process reimbursement.
• The museum is willing to provide references for any volunteers seeking employment within the sector, commenting on work and training undertaken during volunteering at the museum.

What happens next?

Following receipt of a volunteering application, the following process will be followed:

1. Application (download a volunteering application form above, and return to the museum via email or post)
2. Informal meeting (covering questions such as availability, how skills fit the role, reliability, period of volunteering, etc. to ascertain suitability for role)
3. Registration (taking personal details of successful applicants, confirming volunteer agreement, passing to HR)
4. Induction (giving successful applicants copies of museum policies, volunteer handbook, Health & Safety, insurance information, etc.)
5. Regular reviews (after three-month probation, then six-monthly to see if volunteer is happy, requires further training, highlighting any issues encountered)
6. Exit interview (reasons for leaving, suggestions of how the volunteer programme can be improved, positives and negatives of experience)

If you need to contact us with any questions please email us here