Volunteer opportunities at Ickworth

A volunteer’s story

Read about Katie's experience of volunteering in the Collections team at Ickworth. Katie volunteers alongise studying for her masters in Preventative Conservation and has answered a few questions in an interview with an Ickworth work experience volunteer, Millie.

What first drew you to Ickworth and this role?

‘I started working here in the Visitor Experience team for about 7-8 months before I started volunteering in the House with the Collections team as I wanted to understand the different sides of how the estate works. I am also doing a masters in preventive conservation and, as I was already working at Ickworth, it seemed like a really good opportunity to be able to come into the House and get some experience in this area.’

What’s your favourite thing about volunteering in this team?

‘The team of volunteers across the whole property are really nice and very friendly and have all come from different backgrounds so it’s interesting to understand people’s different opinions. Volunteering in the Collections team also gives me a chance to do the things that I find interesting, for example, I’m studying for my masters alongside volunteering so I’m able to put all the theory I’m learning into practice and understand how it works in real life situations. I think is really useful to put all I’m reading and studying into context.’

What skills have you learnt or taught others whilst being in this role?

‘A lot of the skills that I’ve learnt in the House are focused on caring for Ickworth’s collections, such as environmental controls for the collections and how to care for/clean objects that are on display and in the storerooms. Its interesting to learn more about the general day to day workings of how everything in the house effects each other, such as controlling ‘light budgets’ where all the shutters on the windows stay closed until the last minute before the House opens to visitors so the light levels are managed. These are all things I’ve learnt about in theory while studying for my masters that I’ve then been able to have hands on experience with while volunteering. In the House, we’ve got a good team where everybody has slightly different focus areas so other volunteers and staff members are all constantly passing on information from training they’ve done or what they’ve learnt on other courses. Then we can all share our specific knowledge which each other so that everybody has a better understanding on how everything works. With so many different people to work alongside, you develop a really strong general knowledge within the Collections team and you know who to go to if you need more specialist advice.’

What would you say to someone who is considering volunteering for the National Trust?

‘Definitely just go for it! Everyone is very friendly, and volunteers are just so important to the National Trust in general and are really valued as members of the team which I think is really nice. Ickworth has the kind of team spirit that really brings the property together and gets everything functioning well. There’s no minimum or maximum time that you must commit to so if you’ve only got half a day spare in a week then there will be roles that you can fit into. There are so many different departments within Ickworth and the National Trust so you can ‘shuffle around’ and have a go at everything to see what suits you so I think it’s a really good place to start your volunteering journey.’

Thank you

Thank you to all our volunteers who give their time to support the National Trust in many different roles.