We encourage individuals to support our activities through becoming a volunteer. At present volunteers operate within various areas of the Garden including the Herbarium and Library.
Volunteers support the work of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in many ways. The main role of the volunteer is to increase the educational value, interest and enjoyment of a visit to the Garden. This includes explaining the vital role of plants in everyday life and the need to ensure better management of the world's resources.
Herbarium volunteers assist with the mounting and curation of specimens, and Library volunteers usually work in the Archives or Illustrations collections. Opportunities also exist within the Horticulture and Science divisions, and in other Departments.
General volunteering enquiries
General enquiries about working as a volunteer at the Garden may be addressed to Ruth Pool, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR. Telephone (0131) 248 2985 or email r.pool@rbge.org.uk
Current Volunteering Opportunities:
We are currently looking to recruit volunteers specifically for the following roles.
Wee Green People Nursery Programme
As a Volunteer ‘Fairy Helper’ you will assist our Green Fairy set up, meet groups of children and hand out activities in this Nursery programme. This programme is held in the Real Life Science Studio in the John Hope Gateway.
The programme runs on Thursdays 9:00am to 12pm or 15:00pm and creates an opportunity for younger children to visit the garden to meet our Green Fairy, become her helpers for the day and have fun exploring the natural world and children will have the opportunity to learn to:
- match shapes, colours, textures in nature
- make a collection
- listen to stories and sounds in nature
- create a headband / wand/ postcard/ poetry using natural materials
- use their senses to explore the living world.
Children’s Garden Volunteers
The Children’s Garden runs on Thursday and Friday mornings from 9.30 – 12am between early March to the end of September.
As a volunteer you will join a vibrant team who:
- Help supervise 13 primary age children from a local primary school to grow their own vegetables in our raised bed garden at RBGE
- Join in with other educational activities such as arts and crafts, games and experiments
- Help prepare, set-up and tidy up after each session
- Befriend and support the learning of the children
- Celebrate the end of the project by attending an assembly at school
(All volunteers in the Children’s Garden will be subject to Enhanced Disclosure Checks before taking up their role)
If you are interested in either of these roles, please complete an application form and send it directly to r.pool@rbge.org.uk
