Planting Stories - Garden Volunteer

Who we are:

The Science and Industry Museum is currently going through a transformative period of building conservation and gallery refresh project work that includes: The Power Hall (upper yard), The 1830s Warehouse and the 1830s Station Building. As part of these projects we have installed garden planters around the museum to help us tell the story of this unique museum site.

The Planted Garden helps us to tell the story of our museum site formally known as Liverpool Road Station by focussing on goods that moved in and out of the site between Manchester and Liverpool. By using a curated planting approach we are able to illustrate; from cotton to coal, sugar to soap, pigs to potatoes, goods of every description moved through Liverpool Road Station for almost 150 years. It was a bustling hub of people, animals and machines, keeping produce, raw materials and finished goods moving in and out, across Manchester and the world.

What are we looking for? 

You will definitely … 

• Be interested in Gardening, Planting, Outdoor Projects or our Museum and History of the Site in general.
• Be interested in learning about plants, how to maintain and care for them.
• Be interested in the museum and the history of Industrial Manchester
• Be friendly and happy to engage with museum visitors about the project 
• Be able to use your own initiative. 
• Have a willingness to learn about the plants and how to care for them. 
• If you volunteer for the ongoing maintenance phase be available to dedicate 1 day (2 hours) to volunteering either once per week or twice a month. 
• Have an enthusiastic and dedicated approach to volunteering. 

It would be good if you … 

• Have some experience of caring for plants/gardens. 
• Have previous experience in a visitor or customer facing role.
• Are understanding of the need to be accessible to all visitors. 
• Are interested in the museum and history of the museum site.

What would you be doing as a volunteer? 

(Please note you will need to be able to commit to volunteering once a week and be flexible to support morning shifts which start at 9.15am to help us to water the planters- These are individual clusters of planters not a planted field space). 

Maintenance and Visitor Engagement: 

• Day to day up keep of the planters including; Watering, pruning and monitoring the plants. 
• Help with season replanting sessions to refresh our planters with seasonal flora.
• Regular feeding and staking of the plants plus keeping the planters clean. 
• Following the Maintenance Plan which will be provided to support you throughout your role. 
• Chatting to visitors about the planters and their content, in relation to how they represent the history of the site. 
• Build your knowledge about the planters and how they relate to the narrative of the museum site. 

Additional information: 

To volunteer in this role, you must be 18 or over and eligible to volunteer in the UK. Unfortunately, SMG is unable to act as a sponsor organisation if you do not have the appropriate visa. 

This role is subject to a basic Disclosure by the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS).