Volunteering
Volunteering with us is a great way to get involved with the many projects in the Garden and connect with others!
Our volunteers are an incredibly valued part of our team and play a key role in supporting our projects and developments. We are always delighted to welcome more people to join our volunteer team.
“We’re so lucky to have such a brilliant group of people volunteering at the garden. They are involved in all kinds of activities, whether that’s helping with gardening, keeping our plant records up to date, or making sure that events run smoothly. The difference they make to the garden is enormous.”
- Beccy Middleton, Curator St Andrews Botanic Garden
If you're a registered volunteer, you can sign up for spaces at any of our sessions here! If you're not yet registered, please get in touch at volunteer@standrewsbotanic.org to complete your registration and induction before signing up for any sessions.
You must complete volunteer registration, including attending an induction session, before attending or registering for any volunteer sessions.
There's no minimum requirement for how often you volunteer as part of our team! Once you've completed your induction, you can sign up to as many or as few volunteer sessions as suits you.
Benefits of Volunteering With Us
Volunteering provides opportunities to meet new people, make friends, learn new skills and advance your career as well as making you feel happier and healthier. Volunteering with us also allows you to connect with your community and make the garden a better place for everyone to enjoy.
Our volunteering opportunities can help you develop specific skills and will provide valuable work experience or can simply be a warm community of people to spend time with.
You can help us with our development and maintenance activities whilst benefitting from spending time in nature. Our volunteers have had the opportunity to make connections with new people, grow confidence and gain a real sense of achievement whilst learning new skills. There are opportunities for everyone, based on your interests and abilities!
Hear from our volunteer!
“I started volunteering about six months after I retired, as a means to stop me going "stir crazy" in the house and on a quiet walk through S.A.B.G. saw a poster asking for volunteers to work there! That was just over six years ago and I've done a variety of jobs since! Some of the work that I have done, makes me wish I'd discovered it a lot earlier in life, but at least I have discovered it! Volunteering has got me out of the house, gave me new interests and views of a life that I hadn't really experienced before! It's had me working with a great team of garden staff and volunteers and stopped me stagnating! I've branched out to work at two community gardens also and found the same great attitudes and knowledge there also, I can't recommend it enough!”
-Mike Ashburn, regular volunteer with the St Andrews Botanic Garden
Accessibility: If you have any health conditions or specific access requirements, please let us know by indicating them in your registration form, or get in touch with us at volunteer@standrewsbotanic.org so we can best support your participation.
Current Volunteering Opportunities
Education
Our Education team’s volunteering sessions are especially helpful if you are looking to gain experience and skills for a career in teaching or public engagement! Becoming one of our Education volunteers is great way to show dedication to education and engagement work. Our volunteers are involved in a variety of projects, both in the run up to and during events, such as our Little Oaks Early Years Group and seasonal activities. We also have sessions where education volunteers will work together to prepare activities and resources for future classes, trails and events.
Garden
Gets hands on and help our Garden & Conservation to look after the garden and improve our site! Garden maintenance will include activities such as weeding, planting, trimming, pruning and edging, and you will also have the chance to help with project work including sowing, harvesting, painting and repairs. All our volunteers have a choice of tasks that suit their abilities and are supported by our Garden & Conservation team to learn new skills and enjoy working outdoors. Wednesday: 10:30am – 12:30pm.
Nursery
Our Garden Nursery volunteers support our work by preparing seeds and plants for use in the Garden, and for fundraising as part of our Plant Sale! Each session includes a variety of tasks in the nursery, including weeding and repotting. Thursday: 10:30am – 12:30pm (Please note that this session is currently at capacity - we'll create more Nursery opportunities very soon)
Occasional Opportunities
We also offer a wide range of occasional or one-off volunteer opportunities – these will be shared in our Volunteer Newsletter for registered volunteers to sign up for. These involve a variety of tasks – for example, our volunteers have previously supported us by:
- Helping with biodiversity monitoring projects
- Providing welcome information and directions during events
- Harvesting produce and processing wheat and flax
- Supporting our toddler group by engaging with families taking part
- Wrapping gifts to be delivered by our Christmas Fairy
- Writing blogs or articles for our newsletter
Please get in touch with us at volunteer@standrewsbotanic.org if you have any questions, would like to learn more about specific volunteering areas or would like to register as a volunteer.
