Volunteer at the Abbey Museum

The Collection Management team is responsible for researching and documenting the amazing artefacts in our collection. They also provide support to the Senior Curator and Registrar in the display, storage, conservation and maintenance of the collection. Research is an important part of this position, so if you have one of those minds that loves discovering new things, then consider applying to join the collections team.

The Education Team assist Benjamin, our Education Manager, in designing, developing and presenting our programs to school students who visit the Abbey Museum. You will get to present some of our cool and engaging programs such as an Archaeological dig, Heritage trails and an Egyptian Mummification workshop. It is all about making learning engaging and fun for students. As a team member you will also undertake other general tasks as required from time to time to support the programs and activities of the Museum.

The Abbey Museum is surrounded by a lovely garden and lawns. Our Gardening Team have the great job of maintaining the gardens and grounds so that they look beautiful for our many visitors. Your jobs will include mowing, whipper snipping and general gardening – pruning, weeding and watering.

Join an amazing small team and assist us to achieve great things. Help market the Abbey Museum and Medieval Festival, source funding for ongoing development through various avenues, and work with a range of media outlets to promote the Museum and its events. Much of our momentum is driven by Volunteers and the Marketing department is looking to grow their team. We have big plans for the Museum and Festival in 2022, it also may be a perfect time for you to up-skill and take some powerful strides yourself. We are looking for positive, can-do attitude people, with basic social media skills, who are organised and have attention to detail.

Every year over 300 volunteers join us for an amazing medieval experience. Our ‘Maxime Heroica’ (greatest heroes) team experience the Abbey Medieval Festival from behind the scenes, and fill a wide variety of important roles. Serve guests at our medieval banquet, manage a performance venue or join the Photography team! There are many opportunities open to anyone aged 15+ years. Sign up now.

Our reception team welcome visitors to the Abbey Museum. This role includes processing entrance fees, selling merchandise, answering inquiries and generally assisting visitors to have a positive experience in their time at the Museum. We have very busy times at the Museum but other times when it is very quiet and visitors are few and far between. During the quiet times we suggest you bring a book to read or maybe some hand-sewing! No experience necessary, but a friendly outgoing demeanour or customer service skills would be great. Training in Vend Point of Sale system will be provided.

Each year the Abbey Museum holds four historically-themed kids programs during the school holidays. Themes include ancient Egypt, the Vikings, ancient Rome, Medieval, Stone Age, Oriental and Archaeology. Our volunteers facilitate fun activities such as archery, painting, craft, our mini archaeological digs and more. A great opportunity for high school students to gain some work experience.

For this position we are looking for volunteers with sewing/dressmaking skills. Our sewing team primarily make costumes for the annual Medieval Festival and other Museum fundraising events. They also make flags, bags and many other items for sale. To date, they have made over 200 medieval volunteer uniforms, children’s and adults’ costumes for several time periods, gorgeous costumes for our medieval banquet guests, hundreds of metres of bunting, huge appliquéd and quilted banners, leather pouches and belts, canvas stall covers and more! Will require a basic knowledge of sewing skills to be able to do fittings and minor alterations.

The Abbey Museum is looking for volunteers to help with preparing education material, painting props, stocktaking, and assisting with the set-up of events and programs.  

The Museum is looking for Guides interested in presenting a number of tours that are designed to engage, inspire and excite. So if you enjoy talking and like to share your knowledge, this would be a great position for you. The Museum currently offers a tour of the unique collection of stained glass in the Abbey Church. Some of this stained glass was originally from the Lady Chapel of Winchester Cathedral in England.

This position includes building wooden or metal props for Museum or Festival use, creating replica artefacts for the Archaeological Digs, constructing signs and making furniture. Woodworkers may occasionally be asked to help out with other jobs, especially around the time of the annual Medieval Festival.