To mark National Volunteers’ Week (2-8 June) we are highlighting the invaluable contribution our brilliant volunteers make to the council.
From the newly restored Maison Dieu to the beautiful Kearsney Parks, our volunteers work across our various sites and venues, whether that’s helping to keep them looking beautiful, working with the community or protecting our natural spaces.
As part of Volunteers’ Week, we are inviting anyone with an interest in the district – that could be in its heritage, environment or our tourist attractions – to get involved in volunteering.
Volunteers have clocked up an impressive 15,000 hours since 2021 working on our ambitious Reawakening the Maison Dieu project.
There are more than 50 volunteers – now rebranded as Maison Dieu Ambassadors – and they come from a diverse range of backgrounds and ages, from secondary and university work placement students to people in their 90s.
They assist with an exciting range of activities, from welcoming people and leading guided tours, to in-depth research into the building, its stories and collections.
Picture: Nastia Photography
They help plan and deliver events – including the Maison Dieu’s relaunch last month – and assist with interpretation, special exhibitions and have even helped clean historic oil paintings and furniture with training from conservation specialists.
But it’s not just the Maison Dieu where we find our enthusiastic volunteers.
Dover Museum has six, equating to a notable 2,000 hours a year helping with cataloguing at its stores, working on exhibition changeovers and carrying out research.
And the Western Heights Preservation Society, now in its 25th year, is made up solely of volunteers who provide open days, presentations, guided tours and talks, all designed to raise awareness of the historic Western Heights.
They also arrange monthly volunteer workdays, regularly attracting an average of 30 people, where anyone is welcome to help clear and protect the monument.
Most recently, the Western Heights Preservation Society worked on clearing St Martin’s Battery to make this previously underused area more appealing to visitors.
You will also find volunteers across our parks and green spaces. Kearsney Parks, home to the stunning Kearsney Abbey, Russell Gardens and Bushy Ruff, has 50 volunteers, with about 15 volunteering on a regular basis.
They help with litter picking, general horticultural maintenance and assisting at events.
And the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership (WCCP), a not-for-profit group hosted by DDC and which manages the district’s nature reserves, has a huge number of volunteers playing a vital role in protecting and enhancing some of the area's most treasured natural spaces.
Between April 2024 and March 2025, 428 individuals volunteered a total of 4,341 days across the WCCP and Romney Marsh Countryside Partnership – equivalent to a contribution of around £217,050.
Thanks to their efforts, the WCCP is able to manage 18 nature reserves across the region with activities including restoring chalk grasslands and cleaning rivers, to checking livestock, supporting public events such as the popular Sunday Funday, assisting with school visits, and surveying wildlife.
The WCCP has just launched its new Summer 2025 Volunteer Task Programme in which volunteers – new and existing – can get involved in a whole range of interesting activities.
Earlier this year, DDC got involved in Keep Britain Tidy's Great British Spring Clean campaign fortnight, hosting litter-picks across the district and where 434 fantastic volunteers joined us to collect over 300 bags of litter.
Cllr Lynne Wright, cabinet member for community, said: “Our volunteers are at the heart of many of our tourism, heritage and environmental sites and venues, and the work they do is invaluable.
“Their enthusiasm and love for the district shines through their work and we are hugely grateful for everything they do – our sites wouldn't be the same without them!
“National Volunteers’ Week is a brilliant way to celebrate them and show them how much they are appreciated. We hope they inspire more people to get involved in volunteering, which can be incredibly rewarding.”
Notes:
To get involved in volunteering at one of the council’s venues please contact the following:
For Kearsney Parks, contact Kearsney.Parks@dover.gov.uk
For Maison Dieu, contact Martin Crowther, Maison Dieu Engagement Officer, at martin.crowther@dover.gov.uk
For White Cliffs Countryside Partnership, register here whitecliffscountryside.org.uk/support-us/volunteer
To find out more about National Volunteers’ Week go to https://volunteersweek.org
Posted on 02 June 2025