We positively welcome volunteers at FSC Epping Forest.

People volunteer with FSC Epping Forest for many reasons:

• To gain experience in new skills that may assist in getting a new job
• Due to retirement
• Due to redundancy
• Students at college or university, with free time during the holidays
• To meet new friends
• To contribute in a positive way to the community

With over 20,000 students visiting FSC Epping Forest each year, volunteers play a crucial role in assisting us in the general day to day running of the FSC Epping Forest as well as undertaking individual projects. Volunteering opportunities include the day to day assistance of Tutors, grounds and gardens maintenance and general administration. Specific roles are detailed below.

Assisting the Education Staff
As well as receiving school groups every day during the week, FSC Epping Forest also hold children’s eco-birthday parties and adult natural history courses at weekends, and offer many different types of children’s activities during the school holidays, so volunteer help is always needed at these times. Volunteers can support the tutors by getting equipment ready, helping to supervise students during activities, and helping to tidy up at the end of the day. You may also want to become involved with the preparation of new resources and educational material to help support the students learning, or something more practical like equipment repair and refurbishment.

Administration
Help is always needed in the busy office with data entry, filing, photocopying, answering the phone, and other daily routine tasks. You may be able to spare several days a week, or even just for a few hours a week. Whatever time you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Library
At FSC Epping Forest we have an interesting teaching collection of books, photographs, slides, articles and periodicals which we are in the process of sorting and reorganising. We are seeking a dedicated volunteer ideally with some cataloguing or archiving experience to take on the project of cataloguing the collection. We are also in the process of digitising slides and photographs, so if digital imaging is your forte, this is the opportunity for you.

Grounds
The Grounds Volunteers meets one day each week to carry out maintenance on the grounds. Work carried out includes weeding, cutting back of invasive plants, upkeep of wood furniture, and helping to plan and create many diverse habitats for wildlife. There are also opportunities for volunteers with some gardening experience to take an active role in developing and maintaining the sensory garden and other beds around the centre building.

Marketing
Perhaps you have a few hours spare each week and would like to join our Marketing Team. You could help FSC Epping Forest in researching new ideas for advertising, marketing and publicity of the centre and of the activities that we carry out here.

Events Action Team
We often attend local festivals in order to promote FSC Epping Forest and the courses that are offered there. They also sometimes hold events within the grounds. You can help to prepare for these events and also provide help on the day. This includes loading up of displays and helping to put them up at the festival, putting up the marquee, and talking to people to help us to promote the Centre.

If you are over 18 and would like to become a volunteer at FSC Epping Forest, please email [email protected] or call the centre on 0208 502 8500.

Upcoming Volunteer Events: