Volunteer Gardener

Volunteer Gardener | Ideally 5 hours per week

National Museums Scotland is currently looking for volunteer Volunteer Gardeners at our National Museum of Flight location (East Fortune Airfield, East Lothian).

We are looking for enthusiastic, creative, honest, outdoor and nature-loving individuals to join our Visitor Experience team as a volunteer and assist with the development of fruit, vegetable, and flower gardens at the Museum, reflecting the practise of growing food by RAF personnel in the Second World War. We envisage two Volunteer Gardeners to share the work.

About the role

As part of the re-interpretation of our historic site at East Fortune, it is our aspiration to re-create allotments to grow flowers, fruit, and vegetables in the future. Our ideas have come from contemporary photos showing allotments surrounding the Maintenance Wing taken during the Second World War. We will start small with two volunteers developing and maintaining the flower beds at the Education Centre, and the vegetable plot at the Aviator café. Expansion will depend on success of this initial stage and our ability to recruit more volunteers in the future.

What’s involved?

• Garden development, including assisting with research into other similar garden projects
• General garden maintenance eg weeding, digging, watering, including seasonal gardening duties as required including harvesting, clearing, composting, growing seedlings etc

• Interacting with visitors about the gardens.

This role may suit you if you…

• Are a gardening enthusiast
• Like nature and the outdoors
• Like talking with people about gardening
• Are friendly and approachable.

When is it?

Volunteering hours are negotiable. Ideally we are hoping our successful volunteers would be able to provide us with 1 day (5 hours) each per week and be able to start as soon as possible.

By getting involved you could…

• Learn more about National Museums Scotland and our work
• Develop valuable skills and experiences within the museum sector
• Enjoy doing something you like whilst meeting new, like-minded people
• Share your knowledge with visitors.

We have attached a Role Description on our recruitment portal for more information. Please see here

Volunteers are a bridge between us and our community. If you think this is something you would enjoy and can lend some of your time to, we would love to hear from you.

Please note we may start screening volunteers from the start of the campaign. A successful volunteer could progress to offer before the advertised closing date (29/03/2024) which may result in the positions being delisted.