Volunteer with us on the Isle of Wight

If you'd like to do something a little different this new year, why not try volunteering with us on the Isle of Wight? We have opportunities across the Island, so you can be part of our great team and get involved with caring for the places you love.

Volunteering can be a really rewarding experience. Not only do you meet new people, make new friends and gain new skills, but you also help look after some of the country's most important buildings and countryside. Here on the Island we have a team of volunteers that play a crucial role in helping us protect our places. They get involved with all sorts of tasks, from clearing footpaths, to aiding in the Estate Office, and welcoming visitors to our properties. But we would always love more people to join us. So if you fancy doing something a little different with your spare time this year, then please take a look below at some of our current opportunities to get involved and make a difference.

Why we volunteer for the National Trust

National Trust volunteers and staff standing as a group against a car at the Needles Battery

Mark Rees 

Mark first volunteered for us when he was at school but decided to return to volunteering several years later in a different capacity. He tells us why he chose to volunteer for us both then and now.

Two visitors to Bembridge Fort walking up over a grassy embankment

Why I volunteer at Bembridge Fort 

Volunteer tour guide Richard Hardy explains why showing visitors around Bembridge Fort is such a rewarding experience.

" I meet interesting people, have had experiences I wouldn’t otherwise have had, and most importantly, help the Trust to carry on with the great work it does."
- Mark Rees, Estate Office Volunteer
Visitors bird watching
Newtown National Nature Reserve and Old Town Hall   Isle of Wight

Guided walk volunteers

We look after some of the best places to see nature and would like to provide more guided walks to help others appreciate the natural world, but we need your help to do this. If you have a good knowledge of all things wildlife, landscapes or history, and enjoy sharing your knowledge with other visitors, we’d love you to join us as a guided walk volunteer.

See what you’d be doing
Bembridge Fort from above
Bembridge Fort and Downs   Isle of Wight

Tour guides at Bembridge Fort

Bembrdge Fort has had a very varied history. Once built to defend against a non-existent invasion, it was abandoned for decades, with its tunnels becoming home to nesting swallows. Now it’s slowly being brought back to life, and we need people to share the tale of its past. If you have a keen interest in history, a natural ability to tell stories and an enthusiasm for sharing your knowledge with our visitors, then becoming a tour guide at the fort could be a rewarding volunteer role for you. We’d need you to be able to commit to taking one 90 minute tour each Tuesday afternoon between April and October.

Learn more about this role
Bioblitz at Newtown National Nature Reserve June 2016, using a lens to magnify insects
Newtown National Nature Reserve and Old Town Hall   Isle of Wight

Visitor engagement volunteers

We’re making Newtown an even better place to visit and would like enthusiastic volunteers to welcome visitors to this special place. We’d need you to share with them everything that you love about Newtown and its wildlife, to ensure that their visit is enjoyable and inspiring.

Find out about the role
Two guns in the parade ground of the Needles Old Battery on the Isle of Wight
The Needles Old Battery and New Battery   Isle of Wight

Visitor experience and welcome volunteer at the Needles

Located at the western most tip of the Isle of Wight, the Needles Battery has been a Victorian coastal defence and secret rocket testing site. Now we need people to welcome visitors rather than keep them at bay. Working in visitor reception we'd need you to share information about the site and let them know about any events that are happening, as well as the best things to see and do.

Volunteer at the Needles
People looking at the machinery inside Bembridge Windmill on the Isle of Wight
Bembridge Windmill   Isle of Wight

Welcome guides at Bembridge Windmill

Bembridge Windmill, is unique; it is the only surviving wind powered mill on the Isle of Wight. We need volunteers to tell visitors all about this interesting building. From the intricate way the mill works, to the history of people who worked there, if you feel you can engage with visitors then we’d love you to help.

Discover more about this role
Side view of the exterior of Bembridge Windmill, Isle of Wight
Bembridge Windmill   Isle of Wight

Visitor reception assistants at Bembridge Windmill

Set in beautiful countryside and surrounded by fields, the sails of Bembridge Windmill can be seen for miles across the meadows, enticing visitors to come. And once they do arrive, we need friendly volunteers to welcome them. Working in the visitor reception kiosk we'd need you to share local information about the site and let them know about any events that are happening, as well as the best things to see and do.

See what you'd being doing