Event & Engagement Voluntary Placement

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT)’s mission is to create a Yorkshire rich in wildlife for the benefit of everyone – more wildlife, more wild places and more people having a strong connection to nature. 

Potteric Carr has an extensive education and event programme and no day is ever the same. For example, we could be leading guided walks or delving into our ponds with families, school children and teachers to discover the wonderful creatures that live there. We could also be organising and delivering fun educational workshops, such as sharing a Forest School campfire and cooking yummy food with a bunch of preschool kids or home educators. There really is a variety of challenges for you to get your teeth stuck into and this role is perfect for anyone wanting to pursue a career in learning, community engagement and participation.

The role of the Learning and Events Voluntary Placement is to support and be involved with Visitor Engagement, Operations and Visitor services teams. You will help in planning, development, and the practical delivery of a varied events programme for a variety of audiences.

This role will allow you to get an in-depth understanding of working in the conservation sector - you will gain experience in developing events for a variety of different audiences, learn about how to pitch information to different ages and abilities, discover how to embed EDI to our work and work with partner organisations. 

We engage over 2000 people a year through over 100 events, schools and group sessions as well as being involved about some Trust wide events. You will primarily spend your time with our Inspiring People Officer and gain skills and experience in the following areas:

• Help assist with the development and delivery of a wide range of environmental education activities, home education sessions, community sessions and school visits. 
• Provide support to organise and deliver a huge range of family events during school holidays like ‘Get Wild’ summer camp.
• Gain experience of working with local community groups to raise awareness of the positive health and wellbeing aspects of nature.
• An opportunity to further develop your communication and presentation skills through presenting in front of groups of people.
• Increase your knowledge base in identification skills and nature reserve management.
• Enhance your interpersonal and team working skills by visiting teams across the Trust to  gain a full understanding of the activities and aims of our work as Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. 
• Help to plan and deliver social media campaigns to further promote the work of the YWT learning and engagement programme at Potteric Carr Nature Reserve. 
• Further enhance your IT skills, including gaining experience in a variety of administrative tasks such as budgeting, risk assessments and bookings. 
• Being part of our Fungi Festival in October and Robin Festival in December.

This voluntary placement is for 6 months and will have access to a full training programme, contributions towards travel expenses can also be provided.