Volunteering
Get involved
Are you looking for an opportunity to get more involved in the work of Tyne & Wear Museums? Do you think that you can use your skills and interests to make a difference in the work that we do?
Learn new skills, meet new people and become part of the organisation through volunteer positions at our venues.
What types of volunteer work are available?
Full time, part time, short term options
What's in it for you?
There are lots of reasons why you may want to volunteer with Tyne & Wear Museums. These are just some of them:
Strengthen your CV
Develop your skills and your CV with some volunteering. Many of our volunteers have found that through their time with us, they have learnt skills and grown confidence that has helped them to gain employment. Although none of our placements have turned directly into paid employment, a number of our volunteers have gone on to gain employment with us at a later date.
Make new friends
Meet like-minded people through a volunteer placement with us.
Transport costs
We will cover all transport costs both to and from your volunteer placement and any trips that you need to make as part of the job. This can either be the cost of public transport or car mileage.
Lunch costs
If you are placed in a venue with a café, lunch vouchers are available for any volunteer working a full day.
Staff discount
All volunteers are entitled to a staff discount at TWM cafés and shops.
We are sorry but we do not cover the cost of childcare.
What types of volunteering are available?
Our volunteers are currently involved in a range of activities, including:
- Being the welcoming face of our venues: by working on the information desks to meet and greet visitors.
- Volunteering in the stores and helping to catalogue our extensive collections.
- Volunteering with the learning teams to help facilitate exhibitions and explain exhibits to visitors.
- Volunteering with the Exploring Your Environment Project, extracting and inputting environmental data.
- Bringing our rail heritage alive by helping with the day to day running of Stephenson Railway Museum.
- Stewarding or assisting with the organisation of special events.
Unfortunately there are limits to how many volunteers we can give opportunities to at any one time. This is often because of practicalities such as lack of office space, equipment or limited staff supervision time. You are, however, very welcome to contact us (see below) and we will let you know if there is anything of interest that you can get involved with.
Full time, part time, short term options
Volunteering with Tyne & Wear Museums is very flexible and we appreciate the time that volunteers give to us: whether long or short term. Volunteers can offer anything from a day a month right through to full time support. We also offer some student placements for set periods of time.
How to apply
If you are interested in applying to become a volunteer, or for a placement, please contact us by phone, e-mail or post at the address below. We will then tell you what the possibilities are for volunteering and if you would like to make an application we will send you a form to fill in.
If we have a suitable volunteer position available we will then invite you to come in for an informal chat to discuss this further. If we have nothing available we will not be able to take up your offer of help immediately, but we will stay in touch and keep you updated.
If your volunteer placement requires you to work directly with children, young people or vulnerable adults, we will need you to apply for a Criminal Records Bureau standard disclosure certificate.
For more information, please contact us.
Volunteers Co-ordinator
Discovery Museum
Tyne & Wear Museums
Blandford Square
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4JA