Barnard Castle arts centre seeks perfect Christmas gift – more volunteers

SUPPORTERS are being urged to come forward and ensure The Witham, in Barnard Castle, can enjoy a happy new year.
The venue needs help to meet running costs to enable it to continue to stage exciting events and support local community groups.
Katy Taylor, executive director, said: “By supporting The Witham, you’re supporting arts and culture in the community. Volunteers are the backbone of our organisation, and critical to our success. We’d love to encourage more volunteers to join our small, and friendly team.”
There are three ways people can get involved – by volunteering, by joining the Friends scheme or by making a donation.
The Witham would like to hear from people who enjoy working in public facing roles and as part of a team; from people who are looking to learn new skills, share existing skills, or simply want to put something back into their local community.
Volunteers should be able to dedicate a minimum of eight hours per month to working at The Witham.
Roles that the Witham are looking to recruit for include gallery assistants, box office and visitor information assistants, stewards, and a retail volunteer(s).
Ms Taylor said that as from the Teesdale Christmas Art Fair, which continues until December 20, visitors will notice a new approach to visual arts at The Witham with a programme of consistently high quality, carefully curated exhibitions.
“As such, The Witham is looking for volunteers who enjoy enthusing about the visual arts to help make the exhibition programme a success – no experience is necessary,” she said.
The Witham is also in the process of expanding the range of arts, crafts, books and gifts available to buy in the shop and is looking for a volunteer with experience in visual merchandising, stock control, and cashier experience to help out on a weekly basis. People wishing to support the conservation, refurbishment and development of the programme at The Witham can do so by setting up a direct debit, writing a cheque to Witham Hall Ltd, or by donating at JustGiving.
Anyone interested in volunteering opportunities at The Witham should contact Sarah Gent on 01833 631107 or call into the centre during opening hours.
New volunteers are shown the ropes by shadowing those already in place and monthly volunteer meetings keep everyone up to date. Details of the JustGiving page are at: http://bit.ly/ 2gfxD1V