We currently have the following volunteering opportunities available;

 Tea Room Staff

The Friends received a grant of £20k in February 2007 to renovate the Victorian greenhouses in the walled garden and refurbish the small Tea Room based in the Stable Block at the Abbey. The refurbishment is now complete and we now need volunteers to work in the Tea Room which is open 7 days a week from 10am – 5pm.

The shifts are spilt into 3hr slots morning, lunchtime or afternoon, or we welcome anyone who is willing to give up some spare time to help out even if it’s only one shift per month.

No special skills or qualifications are required, however experience of catering would be an advantage. Reasonable travel expenses will be paid and a light lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Tea Room Staff

Times
	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI
AM	9.30-12.30	9.30-12.30	9.30-12.30	9.30-12.30	9.30-12.30	9.30-12.30	9.30-12.30
Lunchtime	12.15-3.15	12.15-3.15	12.15-3.15	12.15-3.15	12.15-3.15	12.15- 3.15	12.15-3.15
PM	3.00-5.15	3.00-5.15	3.00-5.15	3.00-5.15	3.00-5.15	3.00-5.15	3.00-5.15

Events Staff

Times
SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI
9.30-1.30	9.30-1.30					9.30-1.30
1.30-5.30	1.30-5.30					1.30-5.30
7.00-11.00	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	7.00-11.00

The Friends currently have a varied and full events calendar for 2008 and beyond and need volunteers to help in all areas of event management and staffing including the following;

• Security Staff
• Bar Staff
• Catering Staff
• Staff to help with setting up before an event
• staff to help tidy up after an event 

All our events tend to be weekends from Friday – Sunday. The shifts are spilt into 4hr slots morning, afternoon or evening and will vary depending upon the event, and we welcome anyone who is willing to give up some spare time to help out even if it’s only one shift per event.

No special skills or qualifications are required, however experience in any of the above areas would be a bonus.

If you can offer some time to help us, please use the 'Contact Us' form, letting us know which of the above opportunities you are interested in.

Reasonable travel expenses will be paid & a light lunch & refreshments will be provided

Gardening Volunteers

Times – Volunteers may choose the days / hours to suit between 10am – 5pm (7 days a week)
SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI

The Friends of Delapre Abbey have recently been awarded a grant of £20k to renovate the Victorian Glasshouses in the walled garden at Delapre Abbey. We plan to use the glasshouses to grow hot house vegetables, fruit and bedding plants. We plan to use the fruit and vegetables for cooking in our Tea Room as we pride ourselves on home-made recipes. The bedding plants will be used to stock the walled garden and possibly the other parks in the borough of Northampton. The excess will be sold through the Tea Room at Delapre Abbey.

We also have many unusual varieties of plants and flowers in the walled garden – some dating back to Victorian times. We need to separate and divide some of these plants and re-pot for sale through the Tea Room.

We are looking for volunteers to tend to the initial seed-sowing, planting, pricking out, planting out and re-potting of all the stock for sale through our Tea Room. Ideally we would like an individual to be solely responsible for a small area of bedding and tend to this area as and when required. Volunteers have the freedom to choose the type of flowers or vegetables they would like to tend to (as long as it fits with our overall aim).

No special skills, qualifications or previous experience is needed, as we do have professional gardeners on site to advise if required, however any horticultural or gardening experience would be a bonus.

Opportunity