Join in
Volunteer recruitment days
Helpful volunteers at Powis
© NTPL
- Looking for an exciting and interesting way to spend your time in 2012?
Whatever your interests or skills, Powis would love to hear from you.
For the first time ever, we're open every day except Christmas Day in 2012.
From 1 March we want to open up more rooms for the public to see. As a result we need lots more volunteers, especially room guides.
What volunteers do we need?
The Stuarts come to Powis
© National Trust
But it's not just room guides; we need help across the board.
You could sell raffle tickets or drive the mobility vehicle. Or how about helping in the office, shops, restaurant and garden, or with school groups. For braver souls, we're looking for volunteers to dress in costume and interact with our visitors.
Who can be a volunteer?
Couple on the Powis Castle terrace
© Ian Shaw
We're looking for people of all ages to help on weekdays and at weekends: people who have spare time and enjoy meeting other people.
It's also good if you're at college and need work experience, looking to enhance your CV before university, or need more work experience before going for jobs.
There's a social side too. In 2011 our volunteers enjoyed trips out and an evening picnic in our garden.
Contact us
If you'd like to join our volunteering team here at Powis Castle, call Maxine Scott on 01938 551 929, or email her to learn more.
Volunteering stories: Noble connections
Countess at Powis Castle
© National Trust
In 2011 we were involved in helping teach English language to an Italian Countess.
Her name badge read 'Delia', but she was in fact Contessa Delia Negri. Delia and an Italian student named Federico helped open doors, check tickets and share the castle with visitors from around the world. They translated our guidebooks into Italian and gave the castle a certain cosmopolitan finesse over the summer months.
Delia said of the experience: 'This is my first time as a volunteer, and I enjoy it very, very much, it is so pleasant and everyone is so kind.'
Delia and her Italian friends charmed visitors to the castle thanks to the local link of her Bologna-based English teacher, Elizabeth Mugan, who hails originally from Penybont Fawr, Powys.
Elizabeth says: 'Generations of my family have visited Powis Castle with great pleasure and when I noticed there was a possibility to do some volunteering at the castle, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity for my students.
'They get to meet plenty of people in an amazingly beautiful setting and are able to use their English, gain knowledge about British culture and history, and specifically find out about this jewel of the National Trust.'
This experience clearly left its mark on Delia, who said: 'Maybe I will come back next year and stay longer, maybe six months or even a year.' We certainly hope so.