The EVOLVE Volunteering Project

The Abbotsford Trust launched the EVOLVE project in summer 2022. The aim of the project was to offer volunteering opportunities to young people from the local community. Three volunteering roles were developed that would give participants a taste for volunteering and enable them to develop their skill base for future use. In September we recruited 2 Junior Estate Rangers, 3 Visitor Experience Assistants and a Digital Marketing Assistant.

Collectively, the young volunteers have contributed 125 hours of volunteering to the charity to date. In addition, three volunteers have opted to continue volunteering beyond the initial three months to complete six months of volunteering in total.

“Since January I’ve had a great time volunteering at Abbotsford as a Digital Marketing Assistant. I haven’t worked along side any other volunteers but everyone in the office has been very friendly and helpful. I’ve never done anything like this before, but it’s been an amazing experience.”

The achievements of all the project participants were celebrated at an awards event on Friday 14th April.At the celebration event volunteers received a certificate of achievement from Sandra Mackenzie, Heritage Engagement Manager at Abbotsford, on behalf of the Trust. Stephanie Logan from Borders Community Action also presented the participants with Saltire Award certificates.

When given the opportunity to offer feedback on their experience volunteering at Abbotsford, 100% of the volunteers who responded said that they would recommend volunteering at Abbotsford to a friend and that Abbotsford was a positive environment to volunteer in.