If your answer is yes then you can help us as a volunteer. It is also great to put on your CV if you are still of working age.
We currently have 20 volunteers aged from 20 to 80 years old, male and female. Most volunteer in our Centre for 2 to 3 hours a week during our opening times of 11am to 4pm, Wednesday to Sunday, all year round.
As a volunteer you can be involved in any of the following:
We are always looking for new friendly volunteers to come on board. To apply contact our volunteer co-ordinator, Lindy Rowley, on 01723 369361, email scarboroughmaritime@yahoo.com or you can call in the Maritime Heritage Centre at 45 Eastborough.
Scarborough is Britain's first seaside resort and was also the 5th largest herring port in the country. We built ships here that sailed the world and we are the birthplace of Edward Harland whose shipyard built the Titanic. The largest tuna fish ever caught were landed here and we had one of the first lifeboat stations in the country. Volunteering with us you will learn new skills, build your confidence and enjoy meeting and working with a wide variety of people. We have been open to the public for over ten years and many volunteers have gone on to gain employment or take up positions on our committee.
Comments from volunteers & the community:
‘As a new comer in Scarborough the SMHC has given me the chance to meet a whole range of people I would never normally have come into contact with. The projects and events I have taken part in have given my life meaning and made me feel at home here.’
– Mark
‘I really enjoy meeting and talking with people. Being unemployed I don’t get much chance to be social and I am normally a quiet person so this has pushed me to be more outgoing. I have learnt a lot about the history of my town.’
– Konrad
‘I really like working with the community and want to work in museums in the long term. I am gaining experience of working with others. The team are friendly and I have learnt a lot from older volunteers as well as new website skills and other cool things.’
– Rosie (age 23)
‘This is important for the town and kids at school. I like to meet & talk with people and share my knowledge and help others. I come from a seafaring family and love it all. It makes me feel better and takes my mind off any other worries I have.’
– Cassie (age 82)
‘I volunteer because I don’t want to see the heritage disappear from Scarborough. I enjoy volunteering & seeing people coming in and asking questions, especially the young families in the summer holidays.’
– Jim (age 73)
‘I love history and am very proud of all the work we did for the centenary of world war one. I have also learnt about about Scarborough and how it all works as well as working with younger and older people and talking with customers & visitors.’
– Michael
‘Through their team of dedicated volunteers bringing continual awareness within the community the Scarborough Maritime Centre has been able to purchase a property which will enable them to display their artefacts in a more effective manner and continue with their project aim of “Unlocking Our Maritime past”.’
– Ward Councillor, Janet Jefferson
‘The SMHC is totally volunteer run and led. The volunteers are dedicated, and are the organisation. They are a diverse bunch, ranging from unemployed youngsters to retired fishermen, from students to those who dropped out of education early but still have a thirst to learn. The wonderful thing is that they all work together, learning from each other and supporting each other. It was the volunteers' commitment, enthusiasm and professionalism that particularly impacted upon me. SMHC offers crucial historical resources, but it is also interested in today, in developing understanding between young and old and in boosting pride in the town.
– Lady Caroline French Blake
‘The Civic Society is very pleased to support this project which benefits our members through education and participation. Indeed many of our members actively support the efforts of the SMHC. This project helps to build closer links with other groups participating and will ultimately help bring the local community together. It is vital to ensure that people understand the maritime heritage of Scarborough and how important it is that this information is available to future generations.’
– Scarborough Civic Society
‘I am writing to express my admiration for the voluntary work undertaken by the proactive volunteers of Scarborough’s Maritime Heritage Centre. I have watched the centre grow from an initial idea to the valuable, vibrant and welcoming place it is today. Its very existence is the result of hundreds of voluntary hours spent by its founders. The Heritage Centre is wholly managed and maintained by an eclectic network of volunteers who come for their own interest in Scarborough’s history; their enthusiasm for Scarborough offering a warm welcome to its many visitors; and their varied contributions to companionship that is offered generously to everyone who ventures across the threshold – and some that are first embraced elsewhere and persuaded down to join in. Everyone is valued for their contribution – large and small. A visit any day of the week will find two or three people welcoming you in and advising on how each artefact arrived at the centre, explaining what it represents of Scarborough’s past; in the back, volunteers are archiving old photographs found in a suitcase as a local garage was cleared out; a member of the committee will be preparing for the latest in an eclectic series of talks and classes they each contribute to across the town and region. On a personal level the centre offered my father, a social historian and enthusiast, a sense of community that welcomed him to Scarborough, valued his contribution and offered him companionship throughout a 15 year period. In the last years of his life his role, whatever he could offer, was appreciated and accommodated and his daily routine included calling in at the centre to do an hours archiving alongside people of all ages, which he loved. People volunteer for many reasons - some to give and some to gain. Scarborough Maritime retains its volunteers as it recognises both are equally important and that we each have the capacity to do both, however young or old, regardless of whether we have a lot of time, or just a little. I have no doubt their volunteer numbers will continue to swell as they move into a bigger space.’
– Erika Rushton, Director, Beautiful Ideas Company, Liverpool
