Lead Volunteer (Sculptor boat leader)

The role of the lead volunteer is to coordinate the specific tasks for the volunteer team based at the Canal Museum Stoke Bruerne that care for the historic narrowboat Sculptor The Canal Museum Stoke Bruerne | Canal & River Trust, including directed conservation tasks (preventive care) and operational tasks (sailings).

The Sculptor team comprises about eight volunteers, most of whom undertake other volunteer roles at Stoke Bruerne, who work on an ad-hoc basis to: ● carry out conservation work on the boat (under Collections management) ● demonstrate Sculptor to the public at Canal Museum events ● take Sculptor to major boating events at Crick and Braunston each year.

The team members have diverse interests and their motivations include: passion for historical or vintage modes of transport, wanting to cruise on a narrowboat, being part of a friendly cooperative group, and enjoying the pleasures of working by the canal. Some of the team have many years of experience of working on Sculptor which they are keen to see passed on to others.

The Lead Volunteer's principal job is to coordinate the team, not to manage them (which is the role of the Trust's Volunteer team leader (VTL) and Conservation technician, Alec Swain.

More specifically, this entails: ● Agreeing a schedule of conservation tasks for the team with the team members that satisfies the Trust's requirements as communicated by the VTL ● Liaise with VTL to report progress, raise and seek solutions for any issues that arise, and discuss recruitment of new volunteers ● Liaise with event organisers at Crick Boat Show and Braunston Historic Boat Festival regarding Sculptor’s attendance with full support given by the VTL ● Ensure that good records are maintained.

The key competencies desired to undertake this role are:

● Ability to communicate effectively about the Trust’s aims and be an ambassador for the Sculptor team

● Provide collaborative leadership and encouragement for the team members to participate cooperatively and fulfil their individual ambitions for working in the team.

NOTE: Proficiency in IT to maintain the events on Assemble and keeping good records is useful but not required as this can be managed remotely via a regular phone call/video call.

Training for the role is generally a suite of online modules although some one-to-one sessions are needed initially to guide the Lead Volunteer into the role by the VTL. Whilst an interest in historic boats is essential, more specific knowledge of caring for Sculptor and in boat handling is ‘learning by doing’ supported by the existing volunteers.