Welcome to the Brooklands Museum volunteer pages.
Details about volunteer roles currently available are listed below. To register your interest, please click on the 'Fill in an Application Form' link on the right. We are currently recruiting Volunteer Stewards and particularly need volunteers who are able to support us on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
If you would like to apply for the Duke of Edinburgh programme, please first select the Duke of Edinburgh card below, you will then need to click on the link within the text which will bring you into the Duke of Edinburgh programme pages. You will then be able to click to Fill in an Application Form on the right hand side.
We are recruiting additional Volunteer Stewards to engage with our visitors and introduce them to the Museum and our collections. We particularly need extra help and support at the weekends when the Museum is at its busiest.
General Responsibilities:
To welcome and engage with our visitors in the exhibition areas you are stewarding. To provide a watchful presence and ensure exhibits are safe from theft or accidental damage. To be as flexible as possible about stewarding in different areas to enable the team to provide full cover and open all our exhibits.
Key Duties:
To provide a friendly welcome to visitors of all backgrounds, ages and abilities.
To help visitors to understand the exhibits, thereby enriching their visit.
To monitor against theft and accidental damage.
To become familiar with fire escape routes from the building and lead visitors to safety in the event of an alarm activation.
To undertake other appropriate assistance in relation to room stewarding as may be reasonably requested by Brooklands Museum staff.
To maintain good working relationships with staff and other volunteers.
Personal Qualities Needed:
Good communication skills.
Friendly to families, children and all Brooklands visitors.
Enjoy working as part of a team.
Enthusiasm to learn about the history of Brooklands Museum and exhibits in a variety of exhibition areas.
A desire to inspire visitors about the history of Brooklands and support the Museum in relaying Brooklands stories.
Young people can complete their Bronze, Silver or Gold, Duke of Edinburgh volunteering requirements at the Museum. We offer three-hour sessions and some participants complete all three DofE levels with us and choose to stay on and join the volunteer programme.
To apply please complete our online Duke of Edinburgh Registration Form. On receipt of your Registration Form our DofE Coordinator will be in touch.
The project, launched in 2023, is an exciting opportunity to explore the existing stories of Brooklands’ heyday from a different perspective, recognising previously hidden facets of the lives of Brooklands pioneers, and learning how these helped shape and form their innovations and achievements. The Museum has recruited two new members of staff for the project and is sourcing a new system to manage the collection records, so that the stories uncovered can be shared with wider audiences.
The Museum hopes Brooklands Stories Uncovered will enable it to build relationships with new audience groups which include neurodivergent people, LGBTQ+ audiences, and young people who have additional challenges in their lives. Brooklands has always been defined by its people and their achievements, where a community of inventiveness and competitiveness thrived. Using Brooklands’ history of diversity, the hope is to create a legacy of permanent and digital interpretation, inspired through the stories uncovered.
Alex Patterson, Director and CEO, Brooklands Museum said, “We are thrilled to have received this support thanks to National Lottery players and are confident the project will help highlight Brooklands’ stories of diversity and our ongoing commitment to being inclusive to all. This project embodies our vision to inspire all people to shape the future through Brooklands history of innovation and endeavour, bringing a new perspective to our collection that will enable more people to connect with our story in different ways.”
Stuart McLeod, Director of England - London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said, “We’re proud to support Brooklands Museum with this project which will work with new audiences to identify and record the undiscovered stories from their fascinating collection. As the UK’s largest funder of heritage, it’s important that the projects we fund are inclusive, representative and help to broaden understanding. Working with new audience groups will mean that Brooklands Museum’s collections will be opened up to new communities to discover and share their own stories.”
The Museum has three core purposes: