The Salisbury Centre is a community hub at the heart of Edinburgh, located in between the magnificent Holyrood Park and the Old Town. And at the heart of The Salisbury Centre are… volunteers.
Up until 2012, the Centre was entirely volunteer-run. It started as a residential community, where the Centre Residents were putting together the whole programme of events, hosting meals, and growing a permaculture garden.
Times have changed and a lot of these tasks are now held by paid staff. However, The Salisbury Centre wouldn’t offer all that it does without the volunteers.
Want to join the team? Come and get involved to be part of this hub for sustainable, conscious, and harmonious living in Edinburgh.
There are many ways in which you can volunteer. They fall into five categories:
1. Supporting established activities at the Centre
You can think of these roles as the most low-key ones. Some of these require more consistency than others, but all of them invite you to support well-structured activities already going on at the Centre.
Here are the roles:
Seasonal Celebrations Volunteers
Seasonal celebrations, such as Solstices and Equinoxes attract our wider community to come together in a festive and also sacred spirits. There’s a multitude of volunteering roles to support that – setting up spaces, tending fire, running workshops, greeting visitors on the door, and more.
Garden Volunteers
Our garden has been designed as a permaculture, supporting the diversity of different species in the middle of the city centre, as well as giving food crops. Garden Volunteers come to regular Friday sessions and additional workshops to help maintain it – as well as share skills with each other.
Meditation Volunteers
One of the pillars of The Salisbury Centre community are twice daily, volunteer-led, silent meditations at 8 am and 5:30 pm. We’re looking for people who want to run regular slots, and/or occasionally cover for other hosts. This is a great way to directly contribute to the Centre’s spiritual mission, and to build confidence as a space holder.
Seed Library Volunteers
Our Seed Library has re-started! We’re really proud as, among other seed projects in Edinburgh, it plays a vital role in fostering community resilience by bringing people of all backgrounds together to share knowledge, stories, skills and food. Saving seeds encourages remembering cultural practices and recipes that are intrinsically linked to specific plants, fostering nature-connection, ecological understanding and a sense of belonging.
Sounds like something you’d like to be a part of? Email [email protected] to learn more!
2. Hosting & welcoming people into the community
If you’ve been around the Centre for a while and would like to help welcome newcomers – then this section is for you. Become a Salisbury Centre host and help others to find a place in our community!
Community Meals Co-host
As a community-meal co-host, you have a chance to welcome new and old community members and create a safe space for people to share a meal. This includes setting up the room, opening the door, blessing the meal, clearing up and tidying the space (with other co-hosts, not on your own!)
Open Mondays Host
On Mondays, we run an “open doors” space called Open Mondays, from 11am – 3pm. This is a time when anyone can come and use the Centre’s Garden and Library for study, quiet work, spiritual practice, or relaxation.
If you’ve been around the Centre for a while and you’d like to welcome people and host this space – please reach out!
Read role description here
Befriender Volunteers
Similarly to Open Monday hosts, Befrienders help newcomers orient themselves in the Centre in a way that feels safe, comfortable, and welcoming. As a Befriender, you would be matched up to a person who’s new to the Centre to meet them a couple of times and help them take their first steps in the community.
3. Running events as a community facilitator
If you have an idea for a class, workshop, or group activity that you’d like to offer to the community on a voluntary or donation basis – we’d love to hear from you.
We offer support to develop your offering and free access to our event spaces.
Look out for the next round of community events applications. They open twice a year – usually in July/August, and then January/February. You can find the online application form at the bottom of this page.
Or, subscribe to our newsletter to get notified.
4. Offering accessible therapies
The aim of Community Therapies is to provide affordable therapies for all by making treatments donation-based. We first piloted Community Therapies in March 2023 and found there was a need for accessible therapies in Edinburgh.
If you’re a practicing therapist (or a therapist in training) in a modality that can be offered on a one-off basis (rather than a long treatment plan) – please get in touch. We would love to have you as one of our Community Therapists.
For more information, go to this page.
5. Helping to run the organisation
The Salisbury Centre governance is supported by The Board of Trustees and various Subcommittees. If you’d like to be more involved in “steering the ship” of the Centre – please join!
The current opportunities are listed below. For more information about our structure, see this page.
Trustees
The Board of Trustees holds responsibility for running the Salisbury Centre as an organisation, manages its assets and upholds the Centre’s Constitution. Becoming a Trustee is a responsibility, but also a unique chance to learn the ins and out of running a non-profit.
Community Development Subcommittee
We are looking for motivated volunteers to join our Community Development Sub-Committee. This Sub-Committee is responsible for supporting the staff team with planning and oversight of the community engagement, volunteering, events, and outreach activities.
The Subcommittee also acts as a facilitator of communication between community members and the Staff and Trustees, as well as provides a platform for updates from different community working groups. Another part of its mission is to increase community participation, accessibility, diversity, and engagement of the Salisbury Centre programmes.
How do I start volunteering?
If you are interested in volunteering at The Salisbury Centre, please fill out this form and we will be in touch to start a conversation.