How to become a volunteer - Jan 2021

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You may be thinking of becoming a volunteer for the railway but don’t know how to go about it or who to get in touch with. The following few paragraphs will hopefully answer some of your questions and help you get involved.

Volunteering for the Yorkshire Wolds Railway falls basically into two types. With one your hands get to stay clean and with the second they can get very dirty indeed!

People tend to come to Fimber Halt on three main days when volunteering takes place. We have a group of mainly retired members who come to the site on Wednesdays known as ’the Wednesdayites’. They are definitely dirty hands volunteers! Saturdays and Sundays are other less popular days and on Sundays and Bank Holidays we are open to the public during the season when we need volunteers in the shop, the visitor center and in the loco. Don’t worry we don’t expect you to come every day! We will be glad of any time you can spare.

Clean hands opportunities include organising and marshalling at events, meeting and greeting the public, acting as a steward in the visitor center answering questions from the visitors and serving in the shop/cafe. Fundraising is a very important ‘clean hands’ job and a team is being set up for this.

Dirty hands jobs are just about everything else from driving the loco (you have to do some routine servicing hence your hands get dirty), construction work including restoration of railway vehicles and rolling stock, track laying and gardening/general site maintenance. Unfortunately, we have no vacancies for drivers at present, but you can still get involved as an assistant driver which can lead to a post of driver in the future.
If any of those grab your attention let me know and I will put you on the list for volunteer induction training, driver training and personal track safety training. You will need to provide a pair of steel toe cap safety boots and gloves and a high vis (orange) vest or jacket. We currently have hi vis vests with the railway logo on the front and Yorkshire Wolds Railway printed on the back. These are available for a donation to the railway of at least £5. We do have some clothing such as waterproof hi vis stuff and we have some overalls you can use.

You will be helped into roles such as stewardship and shopkeeping with induction and shadowing of more experienced volunteers.
You also must be a member of the railway in order to be covered by our insurance. It would help me to know when you have become a member, your membership number and the user name you choose for access to the members only area of our website. If you can give me that information, I can add your names to the waiting list for induction training.

Membership is just £15 per annum or £2 per month by direct debit or standing order, (because £2 is the minimum that can be paid by those means). Benefits include a quarterly newsletter and free cab rides in the loco as well as the site insurance cover.

I hope you will become a member soon and look forward to seeing you at Fimber Halt!

Regards, Alan Cooper, YWR Volunteer Liaison Person.
alan@yorkshirewoldsrailway.org.uk
07534089110

Jan 2020