Volunteers play a vital role in everything we do at Cannon Hall, including helping to care for our collections, looking after the walled gardens and welcoming visitors.

What do you gain from volunteering?

Our volunteers care for both our green spaces and our visitors at Cannon Hall. We offer outdoor opportunities in our parkland and opportunities to volunteer inside the house with our visitors and collections.

People volunteer with us for many reasons; including improving their health, gaining new skills, meeting new people, and contributing to something they love about Barnsley. Volunteers get to do this in beautiful places supported by friendly, knowledgeable staff.

What do our volunteers say

‘Really well organised. Very welcoming and safe working environment. I could see what impact the volunteering had on the park and my own wellbeing.’

‘The gardening team at Cannon Hall were friendly and pleasure a to spend the day with. Thank you for looking after us. We can't wait to volunteer again!’

Who can volunteer?

If you can bring enthusiasm, we will work with you to find an opportunity. We normally start by having a chat or email about your interests and then go from there.

We are proud to support local schools and colleges in offering placements across our sites, supporting students from a range of course backgrounds to gain skills and experience for work and education.

We welcome those looking to use corporate volunteering days through their employers to give back and get involved. It can be a fantastic way to team build.

What kind of roles do we have?

Availability of roles can vary based on how many volunteers we have, but the roles we offer include:

Gardening/Parkland volunteering

Gallery stewarding and tours

Corporate volunteer days (Employee Supported Volunteering)

Where and when can you volunteer?

For gardening our regular volunteer group meets on Mondays and Thursdays, 10am to 3pm.

Inside the house we have a range of volunteer shifts depending on the time of year.

Through term time, volunteering is available Thursday to Sunday, 11am to 3pm.

In school holidays, volunteering is available every day from 11am to 3pm.

During the winter closure (Dec-Mar) we look to offer volunteer involving projects

Become a Barnsley Museums volunteer

We welcome enquiries about volunteering and can advise what is available. Please email museumvolunteering@barnsley.gov.uk or speak to us on your next visit.

We welcome the opportunity to work in partnership where we can, please get in touch if you think this might be something of interest.

Visit our Barnsley Museums Accessibility pages for more information on our approach to access.