Fancy volunteering with us?
Thank you for considering sharing your time and skills at the Pankhurst Museum. We have 30 volunteers in our team, and we couldn’t warmly welcome visitors without their support.
We have a variety of opportunities, to welcome visitors, lead group tours, facilitate school activities and support at our evening events!
Museum volunteer
Museum Volunteers help to run the museum, guide visitors, check tickets, provide information in the galleries and take payment in our café/shop. Volunteers make the museum a welcoming place, are friendly and engage visitors in conversations to learn about the history of the Pankhurst family.
Are you available on Thursdays or Sundays? Do you enjoy meeting new people? Want to work in a supportive team and share your skills?
Schools Volunteer
Schools Volunteers are a vital part of our school's programme, helping us to make the museum a welcoming and inclusive place for children who visit on Fridays. Volunteers facilitate activities on our workshops and share the story of this iconic building with young people.
Would you enjoy volunteering with a range of groups from around Greater Manchester, gaining a broad experience educating young people of different ages, abilities and needs?
Want to learn about the Pankhurst family, develop new skills or gain museum experience? Come and join us!
FAQs - VOLUNTEERING
We’re friendly and welcome new team members. Volunteer with us to help people learn about the fascinating lives of the Pankhurst family.
Everyone!
We are committed to providing equal opportunities and building a diverse volunteer team, through dedicated training and support.
We provide travel expenses to our volunteers, for public transport, mileage and parking.
You will join a friendly, supportive team, can share your skills, and learn new ones.
If you’re looking for work, we’re here to support you build your confidence and gain museum experience. Giving your time to others can also help you connect with your community and support your wellbeing: 5 Ways to Wellbeing | Mind - Mind
We organise regular training for our volunteers in supporting museum visitors, the suffragette movement and equality, diversity and inclusion.
We hold regular events for the team to socialise and to say thank you to our dedicated volunteer team.
This depends on the role, and we’ll support you to get a DBS check if needed.
You receive an organisational induction, role specific training, guidance from your supervisor and wellbeing support from our volunteering team.
Each role has its own recruitment process, which is explained during registration. Once you complete these steps you can quickly join the team.
Meet our Volunteer: Poppy
To be able to be part of such an amazing community is a great feeling! The Pankhurst is a place for people of all walks of life to feel safe and welcome - that's the same for volunteers too. It's so fun to be able to be a part of the museum, both sharing and gaining knowledge from visitors. It's a small but mighty building filled with history, just being in the garden gives you a great feeling of connection to activists from the suffragettes to modern movements. I have made so many friends since starting here as a volunteer a year ago.
I love being able to be involved with Manchester's history. This role has given me the opportunity to learn so much about activists like the suffragettes who sacrificed so much for freedom and equality; to be able to be more 'hands on' has given me a chance to learn about this in so much more depth!
Also, I like talking to staff, other volunteers and visitors who share their knowledge and experiences!
Meet our volunteer: Joe
Volunteering at the Pankhurst Museum has been the best experience, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. When I first arrived at the museum, I was a little self-conscious because I was the only man in in the team, but I can say that I was accepted and valued right from the start. I was encouraged to be myself and the volunteer team worked around the limitations I had at the time. They never put me under pressure and let me learn at my own pace. As a result, my confidence has grown, and I really feel part of the team.
I really enjoy learning more about the history of the suffragette movement. I feel that I learn something new about the history side of things every time I volunteer. I really enjoy meeting the visitors. We get visitors from all over the world, and they always have interesting stories about how things compare where they live to Manchester in respect of the fight for equal rights. I really like it when we get Spanish speaking visitors as I can use some of my basic Spanish with them. I enjoy working in the parlour and talking to visitors about the room and the first meeting of the WSPU. I love seeing visitors’ reactions in the parlour as they realise, they are in a place of such historical significance. I enjoy working with the other volunteers because the atmosphere is supportive and friendly, and we all make the visitors’ experience the best it can be.
