RHS calls for volunteers to help secure a healthy future for gardening
Interested in meeting new people? Want to help out at the world’s finest flower shows and gardens? Have time to help keep Britain blooming? The RHS is calling for more volunteers at numerous locations around the UK to help it deliver its charitable activities and to secure a healthy future for gardening - and you don’t have to be an expert gardener.
“RHS volunteers are the backbone of the charity and without them we couldn’t achieve nearly as much as we do. They are key members of the team and are ambassadors for the charity at RHS flower shows and gardens,” says Andrew Colquhoun, Director General of the RHS. “Their contribution in helping sign up new members is particularly important because the income generated is invested into charitable activities to help gardeners and promote good gardening.”
For garden lovers seeking ideas, inspiration and quality shopping, volunteering at an RHS flower show is the perfect opportunity to see the latest in gardening styles and techniques. Volunteers are required for the RHS Spring Flower Show, Cardiff (15-17 April), BBC Gardeners’ World Live (14-18 June), the Malvern Spring Flower Show (11-14 May) and the Malvern Autumn Garden & Country Show (23-24 September), as well as some non-RHS shows such as Harrogate Spring Flower Show in Yorkshire (27-30 April).
Volunteering opportunities are also available at all four RHS gardens: RHS Garden Harlow Carr in Harrogate and RHS Garden Rosemoor in Devon require gardeners and membership recruiters, RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey requires Steward volunteers to take guided tours of the garden and RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Essex requires volunteers to promote membership.
To promote its regional programmes the RHS will have stands at the Royal Norfolk Show (28-29 June), The National Amateur Gardening Show (1-3 September) and Burghley Horse Trials (7-10 September) and volunteers are needed to promote RHS membership at all these shows.
Last year, nearly 1,500 RHS volunteers are estimated to have given 62,000 hours or 7,750 free days to the RHS. These figures exclude the RHS Plant Committees, which have been at the heart of the Society since it was founded in 1804. The RHS President and Council also give their time for free to the RHS.
For further information about volunteering opportunities and the benefits RHS volunteers receive, please call Elysa Rule, Membership Marketing Executive on 020 7821 3120.