Volunteer with us

Calthorpe Community Garden is the perfect place to for anyone looking for volunteer opportunities in a safe and secure environment. Your assistance allows us to keep our garden up and running, and to deliver essential services for vulnerable groups in our community.

Benefits to you

• A safe and welcoming place to socialise and make new friends while supporting the local community

• Gardening can reduce stress and generally improve your mental and physical well-being

• You will gain valuable skills which might open new work opportunities for you

• You will have access to workshops, training and events organised by us.

Current volunteer opportunities are as follows.

Compost Systems Volunteers

As part of our closed-loop food system, we collect and process food and garden waste into our five different composting systems. We regularly need help with processing the waste and by-products and maintaining the systems. 

We need volunteers who are interested in sustainability, closed-loop systems, and zero-waste, who are hands-on, good team-players  and passionate about the community.

Composting systems sessions take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10am to 12pm.

We would need you to commit to one of the weekly sessions for at least two months. No previous experience is required however the role calls for active listening, attention to detail and problem-solving skills.

**At the moment we need volunteers to join all of our sessions**

You will gain valuable experience and training on a live closed-loop food  system working in a community setting and can take part in our community lunch on Wednesdays and Fridays.

For a full role description please click here

Social Gardening and Food Growing Volunteers

We would love to have your help during our social gardening and food growing sessions on Wednesdays and Fridays. During these sessions, we focus our efforts on growing food that we use in our kitchen for our community lunches and cookery classes as part of our closed loop food system. We also undertake other seasonal gardening tasks as required. 

We are searching for volunteers interested in sustainability, closed loop systems, and/or gardening and food growing, who are hands-on, good team-players  and passionate about the community to work with us.

Our social gardening sessions where we do most of our food growing usually run on Wednesdays and Fridays from 11.30pm to 1.30pm

We ask for a minimum commitment of 2 months.

All levels of skill are welcome, no previous gardening experience is required.

You will gain valuable experience in organic gardening and food growing working in a community setting and can take part in our community lunch on Wednesdays and Fridays.

General Garden Maintenance Volunteers

Our garden is open to the public for everyone to enjoy and well used by local students, workers and local residents. We regularly need help with maintaining our garden.

We are searching for volunteers interested in sustainability, gardening and plants who are hands-on, good communicators and enthusiastic about community spaces. No previous gardening experience is required.

Volunteering times are flexible between Mondays and Fridays from 10am to 4pm. Specific volunteering times will need to be arranged with our Gardener.

You will gain valuable experience in organic gardening working in a community setting.

Kitchen Volunteers

As part of our offering, we deliver community lunches twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays for up to 30 people that participate in our gardening sessions and craft activities, many of them are elderly and from migrant communities.

We are searching for committed volunteers with kitchen experience who are organised, enjoy working as part of a team, are hands-on and passionate about community.

For this role we would need you to be regularly available on either Wednesdays or Fridays or both days from 11.30am until 1.30pm and/or from 1pm to 3pm for at least two months.

You will have the opportunity to socialise with our friendly participants and volunteers during lunch. If you are interested in practicing Spanish, the best day for volunteering is Fridays

Events Volunteers

As part of our offering, we regularly run community festivals and events and need support on the day with setting up, welcoming the public, and other jobs.

We are searching for enthusiastic and energetic volunteers who enjoy working as part of a team, are hands-on and passionate about community available for ad hoc festivals and events mainly during the weekdays. 

You will gain valuable experience working in a community setting and will get a chance to participate in the event.