Heritage New Zealand’s Auckland Properties Celebrate Volunteer Week
by Heritage New Zealand · SCOOPNational Volunteer Week (June 14-21) is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the contribution made by volunteers everywhere – and the Auckland properties cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga are no exception.
“We are fortunate to have a strong team of dedicated and passionate volunteers who generously give us their time and are part of our property whānau,” says Property Lead Auckland Properties Tanya Wilkinson.
“At Alberton, Highwic and Ewelme Cottage individuals help us with an extraordinary range of volunteer work.”
Volunteering at the three historic properties provides opportunities for people with a wide range of interests and skills according to Tanya.
“Our front of house team work alongside our staff and welcome visitors to our properties. The role is ideal for people with a strong interest in local history and who enjoy interacting with the public,” she says.
“We also have dedicated groups at all three properties who meet weekly to check, clean and monitor our collection items on display, working through the items at each house on a rotational basis to ensure that they keep them looking their best.”
“One a month we light the coal range and our volunteers join us for the morning to cook delicious baked goods and interact with our visitors. It’s wonderful to see the house being used in this way, and our visitors love it too. The baking is themed to different times of the year such as Easter and Christmas.”
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Meanwhile those with a passion for gardening are also able to make a fantastic contribution.
“We have professional gardening teams at Highwic and Alberton but we are keen to build up our volunteer gardening groups particularly at Alberton. At Ewelme Cottage the gardens are maintained by a group of volunteers with some additional help from Auckland Council contractors,” she says.
“They do an amazing job.”
Others help out at events such as Highwic’s Mother’s Day High Tea where volunteers pitched in with everything from plating food, serving guests, making cups of tea and washing the many dishes.
“One lovely volunteer returns to Highwic every few months to rearrange the artificial flowers on display, keeping the space fresh and themed with events like Anzac Day and Christmas. Another works across multiple properties cleaning, sweeping and even taking home tea towels to wash,” she says.
“Our volunteers make a huge contribution to running the properties, and providing the best possible experience for our visitors. We couldn’t do what we do without them – and we’re very grateful for the contribution each one makes.”
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