Week in, week out you see the fantastic work our Conservation Volunteers do out on the river. What many of you may not notice is the wonderful team of volunteers who keep our Visitor Centre running.
We have a core team of around 16 regular volunteers and a further 15 who act as back up, stepping in to cover gaps in the rota, sickness and holidays. As we near the end of 2025 we’re taking a moment to reflect on the incredible contribution our volunteers have made to the centre over the year.
If you’ve ever visited us at our Visitor Centre, it’s usually one of our volunteers who greets you at the desk. While their main role is running our community café, they do so much more than that. As popularity has grown and the centre has become busier, both front of house and behind the scenes, our volunteers have become the backbone of everything that happens here.
They’re certainly more than just baristas. Their talents stretch beyond tempting you to a cake with your coffee. Of course, most of their time is spent on the everyday café duties: serving customers, clearing tables and managing the never ending cycle of the dishwasher.
However, they also provide advice on the walkway, recommend routes and points of interest and are always happy to hear about the wildlife you’ve spotted along your way. Many will gladly say hello to your dog and offer them a treat if they’re allowed, even if the dog is more mud than fur! They water plants, stock our shelves and keep the whole place welcoming and tidy. They guide visitors with the exhibition, update information boards and are always happy to stop and have a chat.
When they’re not supporting our visitors, we keep them busy, assisting us with countless other tasks behind the scenes. They help tally up our stats, create education resources for school groups and events, sharpen pencils, test felt tips, pair gloves, cut up card, type up notes, carry out research and much more besides. We even have our own DIY crew fixing the many issues we have in our Victorian building and making upgrades with help on our carbon neutral journey.
This tireless dedication has allowed us go from strength to strength. While their work may be less visible than that of our conservation volunteers on social media (there’s only so many photos you can take of someone serving coffee), it is just as valuable to our charity and users of the Centre and walkway.
In 2025 alone, our Visitor Centre Volunteers have given over 2,500 hours of their time the equivalent of nearly 1.5 full time staff members! Every shift they cover allows our staff team to focus on the unseen work that keeps the community café, visitor centre and wider charity running smoothly.
Words will never fully capture what they do or how grateful we are, but we hope this gives a glimpse of just how important our volunteers are to everything we do
The centre will be closing at the end of day on Tuesday 23rd December and we’ll reopen on Saturday 3rd January, allowing our volunteers a very well deserved break!