Volunteering during the Coronavirus pandemic

Our volunteer roles have had to adapt to ensure we meet government guidelines and to protect our volunteers. Here we share how one team have met the challenge. 

1066 BATTLE OF HASTINGS, ABBEY AND BATTLEFIELD 

I’m Robert and, for the last three years, I’ve volunteered at Battle Abbey in East Sussex. My role involves meeting and greeting visitors as they arrive on site, answering questions, site information and talking about the history of the Abbey. However, my favourite part of the role is in giving visitors a guided tour of this picturesque and historic site.

I missed my volunteering role during lockdown but still felt in touch through regular bulletins from English Heritage colleagues and a weekly volunteer newsletter. I was invited to a training session at the Abbey in early in July where it was evident that English Heritage had given serious attention to the safety of staff and visitors. I felt confident in returning to my role in mid-July, meeting and greeting visitors and explaining safety procedures. I was struck by visitors’ enthusiasm, good-humour and common sense. Many, clearly, had been looking forward to their visit during lockdown and a number had been keenly anticipating their return to a heritage site which they knew and loved. And our visitors seemed eager to talk – outside and at a sensible distance, of course. It was only when I returned to my role that I realised just how much I had missed the Abbey and the importance of my work as a volunteer to my own sense of enjoyment, purpose and well-being.