General Assistant

Permanent, Part Time (A minimum of 10 hours per week over Saturdays and Sundays with 2 out of 3 weekends worked on a flexible rota)

About the role

The Homestead Park has been cherished by communities for 120 years since it was gifted to the people of York by social reformer Seebohm Rowntree (son of Joseph Rowntree) so that all individuals, regardless of class or income, could enjoy time in nature.

At JRF, we’re honouring this heritage and turning the leaves of a new chapter in the story of the Homestead Park. Seebohm’s gift represents a tradition of giving back to the community and ensuring that public spaces remain accessible to all. We want to uphold this tradition and not only preserve a piece of history, but also reaffirm our dedication to creating a park and pavilion community space that serves the needs and interests of the people it belongs to.

As a general assistant at Homestead Park and Pavilion, you will help make the park a welcoming, safe and restorative place for everyone who visits. You will mostly be working outside, learning basic gardening tasks and some nature conservation tasks as you go. You will also support events in the park, for example setting up event spaces and helping tidy up afterwards. This role is potentially an opportunity to explore various career paths or to make a new start. It provides sufficient work experience in order to apply to our paid garden apprenticeship scheme.

Your regular tasks will also include welcoming and helping visitors with their questions, keeping the park free of litter by litter picking and emptying bins, locking and unlocking gates and buildings as needed, safety and cleanliness checks, topping up tea and coffee and other supplies for the Pavilion Community Space and communicating with the garden team about which jobs need doing and any issues which arise.

You will be an advocate for the park as a place for people to relax, connect with nature and build community

About you

We are seeking candidates with a positive and adaptable attitude – ready to try new things, with the ability to work as part of a team as well as on your own and to follow instruction from the gardeners.

With good time-keeping and personal organisational skills, you will be a strong communicator, willing to take responsibility for important safety checks.

A pattern of two weekends on duty followed by one weekend off will be in place but there is room for flexibility. You will be expected to offer a maximum of one evening a week to support community events.

How to apply

If you share our passion and this role sounds like you, then we’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Please submit your CV and supporting information via our online application platform.

The closing date for applications is 30th January 2025.

Interviews will take place on 25th & 26th February 2025.

We reserve the right to bring the closing date forward should enough quality applications be received prior to the current closing date.

Additional Information

Applications are welcome from all, regardless of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race, sex, sexual orientation, trans status or socioeconomic background. We positively encourage applications from people from marginalised backgrounds, including but not limited to those with experience of living in poverty.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and operate an anonymised recruitment process so that bias is eliminated from the shortlisting process.

We are a Disability Confident Employer. This means that we are committed to the recruitment, progression and retention of disabled individuals. We shall also offer interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the job. If you have a disability, please tell us if you would like to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme.

If you have any additional needs and need reasonable adjustments to be made to the interview process, please let us know