Get involved · Volunteer
Volunteer with us
About 40 volunteers run the Ropewalk, with one part-time coordinator. Last year they gave 6,800 hours. Some come every week; some come for the family workshop once a year. Both are useful.
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Roles
Front desk
Welcome visitors, sell tickets and memberships, and answer the phone. You’ll be the first person most visitors meet.
Time: one 3-hour shift a fortnight, 10 am to 1 pm or 1 pm to 4 pm, Thursday to Sunday.
Collections care
Clean, number, pack and record objects in the store, under the collections manager. Careful hands matter more than experience.
Time: Tuesdays, 10 am to 2 pm, weekly or fortnightly.
Research
Answer family-history enquiries, index the Tarrow Courier and transcribe letters and oral histories. Some of this can be done from home.
Time: Thursday or Friday mornings in the reading room, or flexible from home.
Tar Yard garden
Keep the courtyard beds, pots and paths in order. The beds grow hemp’s cousins and the plants dyers used, with labels.
Time: first Saturday of the month, 8:30 am to 10 am, plus watering in dry spells.
Events
Set up chairs, sell tickets at the door, make tea and pack down afterwards. Talks, walks, members’ evenings and hired events.
Time: about 6 evenings or weekend mornings a year, when it suits you.
Schools
Help run school programmes: making rope with 7-year-olds, taking the 1905 roll call, guiding older students through the sources.
Time: Tuesday or Wednesday mornings in school term, weekly or fortnightly.
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What you get
Training for your role, and a volunteer you can shadow until you’re ready.
A blue lanyard, a name badge and free tea on every shift.
Free membership after your first 50 hours.
The end-of-year volunteers’ lunch in the Hemp Store.
A reference letter if you want one for work or study.
Access to parts of the building and collection that visitors don’t see.
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Who can volunteer
Anyone 16 or over. Under 18s need a parent or guardian’s permission. You don’t need any museum experience. Some roles involve standing, lifting boxes up to 10 kg or climbing the Loft stairs; tell us what suits you and we’ll find a fit.
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Open mornings
We hold four volunteer open mornings a year, 9 am to 10:30 am in the Hemp Store, before the museum opens. The next one is on Saturday 6 February 2027.
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Tell us you’re interested
This isn’t an application. It’s the start of a conversation. Maren Ashdown, our coordinator, will call or email you within a week.
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