Volunteer Coordinator, Elysa Rule, explains how important volunteers are to The RHS and how they are making a difference.
Almost 400 volunteers help us to recruit new members at RHS shows and gardens, and for more than five years it has been my privilege and pleasure to recruit, train and manage them.
Their enthusiasm is infectious, their commitment complete and their presence essential; they really do make a difference in helping us recruit to continue our charitable work.
How volunteers make a difference to...
Recruitment
More than 150 volunteers across three membership stands help promote membership at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. With their help we can recruit more than 2,000 new members in five days; something a small RHS staff team would find impossible to achieve.
RHS members
Our volunteers welcoming approach to existing members encourages them to visit our stands.
Not all members read their RHS Members’ Handbook and here they discover membership privileges they may have been unaware of, kept up to date on RHS activities and events in and told of RHS initiatives only possible because of their subscriptions. Our volunteers are wonderful ambassadors for the RHS; they reflect all we believe in.
Our volunteers
Many younger volunteers use this opportunity to develop new skills. Many broaden their knowledge though talking to like-minded gardeners. Others use the opportunity to make new friends. In all instances it’s gratifying to see the individual grow and friendships develop.