our volunteering vacancies
Volunteering opportunity: Open Farm Sunday event volunteers
When: Sunday 7 June 2026
Where: Susan’s Farm, Houghton, Carlisle
What we’re looking for: people to help us out at our annual open day for the public. Open Farm Sunday is a national event managed by the charity LEAF (Linking Education and Farming), who describe it as ‘farming’s annual open day’. Farmers open their gates to everyone, to visit and to learn about the story behind our food and how farming affects our everyday lives.
We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers with good people skills to help us make the day a success. All volunteers must follow our code of conduct (supplied in advance) and attend a short health & safety and safeguarding briefing at the start of their shift.
Roles on the day
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Stalls team: at the beginning and end of the day, help to put up and pack away portable gazebos for stallholders, and move some tables and chairs. Hours: 8 – 9.30am, then 4-5.30pm (you can stay for the whole day if you want to). Requirements for this role: good level of physical fitness; able to follow health & safety procedures.
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Catering team: help to cook burgers etc. indoors in our kitchen and outdoors on a BBQ; plate up and serve food and drink. Hours 9am – 4pm. Requirements for this role: ability to work quickly in a busy environment, and able to follow instructions on, and maintain food hygiene. Catering experience would be great but isn’t essential.
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Parking and welcome team: help to direct visitors to parking spaces and manage the parking area safely. Give out stickers, maps etc. to visitors on the entrance gates to the site. Requirements for this role: calm and friendly manner.
If you’re interested in taking part, please click here to fill in a form to register your interest and we will be in touch. If you have any questions about the roles or the event, please email [email protected]
We are not currently recruiting for regular long-term volunteers to help us with our work.
Check back here in future if you are interested in:
- Education Support Volunteers with experience of working with young people or adults.
- General Farm Volunteers to support with farming activities and estate maintenance.
- A Trustee with experience of fundraising, volunteer management and/or HR expertise.
This list is not exhaustive, so please get in touch if you have other skills you think can be useful to us.