The Water of Leith Visitor Centre has been open since May 2000 and is staffed by volunteers everyday. It is a popular attraction with school groups, walkers and visiting families. We need volunteers to staff the centre, community café and exhibition space, provide a first impression of the Centre and the Trust, welcome visitors with a smile, give help and advice, take money for sales and make refreshments.
The qualities needed for a good centre volunteer are reliability, friendliness and common sense. Calmness under pressure is an asset (for example, if 20 children are thrusting pennies for pencil sharpeners at you all at once! or a group of 15 on a walking group stroll in and all want ‘lattes’) but staff are always around to lend a hand. If you think ‘Centre Volunteering’ is for you, tick the box on the registration form and we will call you to arrange a training session.
Usually volunteers work three hour shifts (10.00am to 1.00pm and 1.00pm to 4.00pm). The volunteer on the desk is always backed-up by a member of staff, who will help make refreshments and provide any other assistance to allow the volunteer to remain at the desk. Training on the use of the till, serving drinks, the workings of the exhibition, information on the river etc is provided for all volunteers. We do not expect people to be experts but it is good for volunteers to keep up to date with our work and what is happening along the river.
We ask anyone interested in volunteering in any of the roles available to download our Volunteer Pack and to send us their registration details via the button below. We have limited capacity for new Visitor Centre Volunteers at the moment, so it might take a while to get back to you. River and Conservation Volunteering is CLOSED to new applicants until November – sorry we only have space for so many people
The Water of Leith Conservation Trust works to conserve and enhance the river, its heritage and wildlife: The Trust promotes education and recreation through the Visitor Centre, and works with volunteers and community groups to deliver around 240 river clean-ups and habitat improvement tasks annually.