A record number of more than 70,000 people are volunteering for the National Trust, according to new figures.
And here in Yorkshire there are 1,961 volunteers covering more than 100 different jobs, who between them undertake 84,271 hours of unpaid work a year worth a phenomenal £729,786 to the trust.
Among the properties it owns is the 5,685-acre Marsden Moor Estate on the western edge of Kirklees.
Volunteers support the organisation by performing a huge range of different roles from managing bee hives at East Riddlesden Hall in Keighley and organising special engagement days for local people to running research groups at Treasurer’s House in York and even transcribing and dramatising the diaries of the Victorian visionary, James Stovin Pennyman, who lived at Ormesby Hall near Middlesbrough between 1854-1896.
There are now more than 80 volunteers compared to just five paid National Trust staff, working across a range of roles from organising exhibitions and events and helping with the website.
Helen Ghosh, director-general at the trust, said: “Volunteers are vital to organisations like the National Trust.
“When you visit one of our properties, for the most part the people that welcome you, explain the history of the place and look after it are all volunteers.”
For more information about volunteering with the trust, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk
