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Volunteering at Ripon Cathedral

Become a

Volunteer

Being part of

Something Special

In 672, St Wilfrid built the first church here to serve the community at Ripon. Some 1350 years later, Ripon Cathedral continues as a parish church, working with and for the people of this fantastic city and its locality.

Event Volunteers

What is an Event Volunteer?

Event Volunteers help to prepare the cathedral for all the different events that go on. From concerts to carol services, Spring Fair to Beer Festival the event volunteers will help to make all events run smoothly and put the cathedral back to rights afterwards!

What’s involved?

  • Lifting and carrying chairs, tables and anything else that needs to go somewhere
  • Building and dismantling stages
  • Helping with setting up marquees, stalls and exhibitions both in the cathedral and in the grounds
  • Becoming familiar with and following the Cathedral’s policies always
  • Potentially, being available to help in other ways in the life of the Cathedral

How you may benefit

  • Physical exercise without cost
  • Becoming part of a friendly and dedicated team
  • Meeting people from all walks of life and making new friends
  • Improving your communication and people skills
  • Enjoying new experiences and learning new things

This role will suit people who…

…enjoy physical activity and enjoy working in a team to get things done.

Welcomers

What is a Welcomer?

Welcomers help ensure all our visitors to the Cathedral have a warm welcome and enjoy their visit. They represent the cathedral and are sensitive to the needs of each person whom they encounter.

What’s involved?

  • Being a friendly face for visitors on arrival to the cathedral
  • Helping visitors find what they are looking for and surprising them with something unexpected about the cathedral
  • Working alongside other volunteers, staff and clergy at the cathedral

How you may benefit

  • Becoming part of a friendly and dedicated team
  • Meeting people from all walks of life and making new friends
  • Improving your communication and people skills
  • Enjoying new experiences and learning new things

This role will suit people who…

…enjoy working with people and helping them have a good time and who are interested in helping people discover the life of the cathedral both in history and today.

Guides

What is a Guide?

Guides help to provide information to all our visitors to the cathedral, so that they can discover something new about the cathedral and enjoy their visit. They are on hand to engage with visitors as appropriate and to answer questions. They represent the cathedral and are sensitive to the needs of each person whom they encounter. Tour guides have a different function in that they are designated to talk to pre-booked groups about the cathedral.

What’s involved?

  • Providing a warm welcome to people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds to the cathedral
  • Helping everyone to have an enjoyable and informative visit
  • Answering a wide range of questions and offering information about the cathedral, its history and daily life to visitors
  • Working alongside other volunteers, staff and clergy at the cathedral
  • Being the public face of the cathedral to our visitors
  • Becoming familiar with and following the cathedral’s policies always
  • Potentially, being available to help in other ways in the life of the cathedral

How you may benefit

  • Becoming part of a friendly and dedicated team
  • Meeting people from all walks of life and making new friends
  • Improving your communication and people skills
  • Enjoying new experiences and learning new things

Further information

This role will suit people who…

…enjoy working with people and helping them have a good time and who are interested in helping people discover the life of the cathedral both in history and today.

Time commitment

2¼ hours each fortnight on a rota.

Training & resources

Training about the cathedral and the role will be given. There is a Volunteers’ Resources section in the Cathedral Library for those who wish to explore more deeply.

Education Volunteers

What is a Education Volunteer?

Work with our Education Officer and a team to ensure that the schools and learning programme is fun, engaging and inspiring for people of all ages. You’ll be involved in a range of practical activities and you’ll be talking about our 1350 years of Christian heritage.

What’s involved?

  • Ad-hoc delivery of our school’s programme
  • Working in tandem with the Canon Educator and Learning Volunteers to engage schoolchildren with the history and faith heritage of Ripon Cathedral
  • Delivering on a series of packaged education modules

Desirable qualities

  • Background or interest in education
  • Desire and willingness to learn
  • Flexible availability on weekdays
  • Willingness to undergo safeguarding training including a DBS check
  • Engagement with a building of Christian heritage which continues to be a place of pilgrimage and worship
  • Interest in history and the Christian faith
  • Good communication skills
  • A co-operative approach to working with other volunteers and staff as part of a team

Flower Guild

About the Cathedral Flower Guild

Every week throughout the year, except during Advent and Lent, Ripon Cathedral is adorned with floral arrangements. Exactly when and where the practice of decorating churches with flowers began is unknown but by the 12th century flowers were widely used as symbols of the beauty of God’s creation, and of the new life of the Resurrection. Individual flowers became identified with key individuals, such as the lily as a symbol of the purity of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

The floral displays are the work of the Cathedral Flower Guild which is made up of three teams of arrangers working in rotation. As well as providing flowers every week to compliment the cathedral’s worship, the guild provides special flower arrangements for weddings, and large scale floral displays for events in the cathedral calendar, such as Christmas, Easter, the Golden Wedding Service and Harvest.

The Flower Guild is always pleased to be able to help to mark such an occasion with a specially made arrangement.

Digital Heritage Projects

What are Heritage Projects?

Heritage Projects is a volunteer scheme to find and show online some of the cathedral’s hidden gems and stories as part of our 1350th year celebrations. Made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, tasks could include research into web and physical archives, creating content for our website and social media, livestreaming, photography, videography or creating virtual tours and trails.

The types of activity and projects are extremely flexible, so if you have an idea, get in touch!

What’s involved?

  • Working alongside other volunteers to showcase Ripon Cathedral’s treasures online
  • Working with the Marketing and Comms team to enhance the cathedral’s online experience
  • Becoming familiar with and following the cathedral’s policies always
  • There will also be opportunities to get involved in the life of the cathedral

How you may benefit

  • Working from home possible
  • Both regular and short term / occasional volunteering available
  • Using professional technical equipment
  • Meeting people from all walks of life and making new friends
  • Improving your communication and people skills
  • Enjoying new experiences and learning new things

What’s provided?

  • All equipment & services you need will be provided, or you can use your own
  • All necessary expenses will be paid, including travel
  • Full training will be given, including external courses if appropriate
  • Professional references will be provided upon request

This role will suit people who…

…are computer literate, who enjoy looking into the story of an historic building, and who want to share this story with the world.

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