The Anglican Shrine at Walsingham seek outgoing and friendly people, experienced in working in customer-facing roles who are willing to volunteer their time to welcome visitors who come to the Shrine. The Shrine is affiliated to the Church of England through the Diocese of Norwich.  It welcomes thousands of people every year as day visitors or those pilgrims who come to stay in our accommodation. While here they learn about the history of the Shrine and its Anglican heritage as well as enjoying the beautiful gardens and facilities on offer. Pilgrims and visitors alike are invited to participate in the worship that takes place in the Shrine Church during the day. Volunteers play a big part in making our visitors and pilgrims welcome.

The Shrine is set in a beautiful part of Norfolk, between Fakenham and Wells-next-the-Sea. The Shrine values people who are happy to give. In return for your time, you will get:

• Full training for your area of work
• Training on the history of the Shrine
• Travelling expenses to and from volunteering are paid
• A free tea or coffee and piece of cake/meal when on duty
• Discount on food and beverages purchased at our Café/Bar (at any time)

As someone working voluntarily at the Shrine, your safety and the safety of visitors to the Shrine is crucial. Therefore you must complete:

• An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
• Health and Safety Training as well as any other training deemed useful
• A Basic Safeguarding Course run through the Church of England

The Shrine is open seven days a week so volunteers can choose to work as little or as much as they would like. There are opportunities in the following areas:

The Welcome Stewards

Welcome Stewards work between 10am and 1pm and/or 1pm – 4.30pm every day.  You indicate which day and time you wish to work and how often (i.e. every second Monday or every Tuesday afternoon, etc.)

The Stewards are based principally at the entrance to the Shrine Church or, if there are more than one, in the Welcome Centre, a purpose-built visitor experience with information about the Shrine and its history. Stewards are often the first face that visitors see, so it is important that volunteers have a smile of welcome and a friendly approach towards directing people to further information

Housekeeping

People who might wish to help out in one of the most important but often over-looked area of the Shrine, the Housekeeping Department, are welcomed. At busy times in the season it is wonderful to have people who would like to support the staff by servicing rooms and cleaning public areas. It is physical work, but the team is friendly and the surroundings pleasant. You must be willing to work under supervision and use cleaning equipment and standard chemicals used in cleaning.

Administration

The Anglican Shrine seeks people with  professional skills in IT/social media, teaching and learning or office practices who are willing to offer their time. There are opportunities in the Membership and Education Departments as well as occasional help with events at the Shrine. On application, there will be a discussion with you about where your skills would be most usefully needed and in return you will contribute to the outreach work of the Shrine.

You will need a knowledge of office practices, basic IT skills and the ability to work with little supervision on complex tasks.  You are required to be confidential in your working practices and support the work of the Shrine in these busy and professional environments.

Hospitality

The Shrine has two catering outlets: Refectory, that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner to residential guests; and our Café/Bar, Norton’s, which is open for morning coffee, lunches, teas and a variety of cakes and pastries. Norton’s is also licenced.

Although the Shrine has paid staff, at busy periods during the season they welcome volunteers who are prepared to support staff in serving of food, washing-up, tidying and generally supporting staff maintain the health and hygiene of the Shrine’s facilities.

Volunteers must be friendly and outgoing with the stamina to work in busy food service environments. You will be trained in food service and offer the opportunity to gain experience in the hospitality industry