It takes a great many people to make Great Tower work as effectively as it does and with around 300 volunteers on our register at any one time, we are very proud of each and every one of them.
Occasionally paid staff opportunities crop up but they are few and far between. These paid opportunities are listed below:
West Lancashire County Scout Council
Appointment of Administrator
Based at Great Tower Scout Activity Centre
An opportunity has arisen for a dedicated individual to take on the above post based at one of Britain’s best loved Scout Activity Centres in the glorious Lake District National Park commencing December 2007
The post is part time with the successful candidate covering two half days per week.
Previous Administration skills are required and Scouting/Guiding experience would be an advantage but is not essential.
Summer Staff
Each summer, we have a dedicated team of people to assist running the centre with an extremely varied job list covering toilet cleaning, serving in the shop, looking after our visitors, organising evening entertainment and much more. Most of our summer staff are in the explorer scout age range and come from either Scouting or Guiding backgrounds however, older people are more than welcome and fit in to this scheme pretty well.
We also have a limited number of paid places on summer staff, use the same form and express an interest in being considered for a paid role if you wish.
Voluntary Wardens
Voluntary Wardens are normally, but not exclusively, married couples where either or both of them hold other Scouting appointments. They take their turn on an annual rota to man the reception area at Great Tower, normally covering weekends but some also cover mid-week periods at Easter, Spring Bank Holiday and the Summer season. Duties involve welcoming arrivals and booking them in, running the on-site shop, taking telephone enquiries & bookings, answering campers queries, settling accounts and anything else which occurs.
Voluntary Wardens are the main customer facing team within our operation and our reputation for being friendly and helpful lies very much in their hands. Although this is an onerous task, voluntary wardens receive a great deal of support from our Camp Site Manager, Principal Officer and other volunteers such as Service Teams so they are never on their own.
Service Teams
Service Teams are groups of people from age 14 upwards and vary from teams of Explorer Scouts, Ranger Guides to older members as Scout Fellowships, Teams of Leaders who want to give the odd weekend of service to Great Tower.
Service Teams stay in the Roost on-site for the weekend of their duty and work with the Camp Site Manager to undertake both some of the usual day to day jobs such as keeping the toilet blocks clean & tidy, managing our recycling station, clearing drains etc and also more exciting project work either developing new attractions or maintaining existing ones. Service Teams cover the number of weekends appropriate to their available time, some doing 2 or 3 weekends per year, others doing just the one. Teams usually come as their unit name and the members can and do change each time they visit.
Service Crew
The Service Crew is based at Waddecar but also services Great Tower. Generally, Service Crew members are recruited from other teams of people who have already given good service to Waddecar or Great Tower, either through being a Service Team member or coming by recommendation through existing Crew members. Being a Crew member requires considerable commitment of a minimum of 2 weekends every “rota period” of 3 or 4 months. The Crew is an organisation in its own right and also has its own social programme. The Crew operate under a training scheme and afford a higher level of responsibility, driving the tractor, assisting campers, running activity sessions, supervising service teams etc.
Ad-Hoc Help
We also have a number of people who help us in a variety of ways. Normally older, retired people or younger people who don’t really fit into other categories. There are always a million and one ways to help us out, whether it be maintaining activity equipment, stocking the shop, helping out in the office, answering the phone, planting trees, cutting grass etc, we’re always looking for help
If you are interested in any of the above, please contact us for further information and an informal chat and we’ll see how we can help each other. Great Tower is certainly a fantastic place to volunteer, out in the countryside, blue skies, hills, trees, plenty of wildlife and colleagues who are friendly with a good sense of humour, nothing could be a finer way of spending your spare time.