As an educational charity, MKCDC receives school visits studying the history and geography of Milton Keynes. Education Assistants will support the delivery of fun, interactive education sessions to children from KS 2- GCSE. This is a great opportunity to use and develop skills around working with young people and there will be scope to specialise in assisting with specific types of day depending on your particular areas of interest and expertise. To fulfil this role you will need good people skills, such as the ability to be polite and friendly to teachers and colleagues as well as interacting with children. As the sessions are interactive a sense of humour is helpful. You will be supported by the Education Officer and full induction will be given, with ample opportunity to shadow and observe existing sessions before you take a more active role.

Events have become increasingly important to the Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre. Our events help them to engage more meaningfully with the people of Milton Keynes, help raise funds and raise our profile as a charity. Event Assistants will volunteer closely with the Education Officer to plan and deliver a programme of events throughout the year, building on the success of existing events such as site tours, Medieval Family Fun Day, exhibitions, talks and more. To fulfil this role, you will need good people skills, good organisational skills and enthusiasm. MKCDC will induct you into the work that's been done on their events already, but some previous interest and experience of events organisation or working in the heritage sector would be helpful.

We run structured tours of the medieval site on at least 10 days a year, between April and October. The tours are run by volunteers and are an invaluable way that local people can have access to the medieval site, including the nationally unique wall paintings housed within St Mary's Chapel. Tour guides lead the tours, sharing the history of the site. To fulfil this role, you will need to be polite, friendly and able to interact with people of all ages and backgrounds, as well has having plenty of enthusiasm. Full training on the site's history will be provided but an interest in local history or the medieval period would be useful.

It is essential to be punctual and able to keep to time for this role.

As a Medieval site and educational centre, it's important that Bradwell Abbey is open and accessible to local people where possible. Welcomers are an invaluable part of that access as it's a crucial customer service role, greeting people as they arrive at events, encouraging people to take part in activities, to join our mailing list, informing them about practicalities of the site and so on. If you're good at working with people in a friendly, pro-active and informative manner, this role would be ideal for you. To fulfil this role, you will need to be polite, friendly and able to interact with people of all ages and backgrounds, as well has having plenty of enthusiasm; this is a role for someone who's keen to support their local heritage. Full training induction will be provided but you will need to be someone who can work independently, or as part of a team of volunteers, once trained.

Interested in preserving the uniqueness of Bradwell Abbey? Want to learn more about the heritage of our local area? Then why not become a Friend of the City Discovery Centre at Bradwell Abbey?
The Friends were formed to help promote and preserve this important part of Milton Keynes. They organise a programme of talks and events on local and wider heritage interests. They also form the base of our volunteer group which work on Sundays as stewards, guides and shop assistants.

MKCDC's archives contain a range of architectural models that chart the history of specific developments in Milton Keynes. As some are now over 40 years old, they need maintenance and repairs to keep them in a displayable condition. Experience of model building or similarly intricate construction skills are essential.

As you may imagine, a site the size of Bradwell Abbey requires plenty of landscaping and maintenance of the green spaces. This work is done by a variety of teams, from contractors to the Parks Trust but with a programme of improvements underway, there's always plenty to do. If you have the skills to assist with this kind of work, please get in touch.

We are always looking for people who like to dig! Come and help us grow fruit and veg for the community, or help us in our sensory garden.