We run three volunteer sessions a month; on the first Saturday and the second and third Monday of each month. There is also an additional session working in our Community Orchard on the third Saturday of each month.
About the sessions
We meet for each session on the grass by the upper car park at 9.30am. The sessions run until 12.15. Ideally you should let us know, by email to fowp@friendsofwhirlowbrookpark.org.uk, if you intend to join a volunteer session for the first time. On each session that you attend, you will be asked to sign a register and give an emergency phone number. Please wear boots or very sturdy footwear and bring gardening gloves. You are welcome to bring your own trowel/spade/secateurs but please ensure they can be identified as yours. There will be some tools available. Please bring a drink also. Biscuits provided!
Volunteers undertake a number of tasks, including digging, planting, weeding, sanding and painting park benches, sweeping paths, spreading bark mulch on borders and paths and any general repairs that need doing. There is a range of tasks to suit all abilities. A few more photos of our activities can be found in the Gallery.
Working with external organisations
In addition to our regular sessions for members, we are happy to arrange sessions working with external organisations. Two such examples are described below.
Pond Maintenance
Once a year in Oct/Nov we have a special volunteer session to help clear the edges of the two ponds in the park. We engage with volunteers from FoWP, u3a and members of both Abbeydale and Vulcan Rotary as well as members of the public. We remove scrub from around the pond edges and a lot of mud and silt from in the ponds and streams. Many buckets are used and the park gardeners from Sheffield Parks and Countryside are on hand with a truck to clear the rubbish away! We also provide delicious refreshments in the form of home-made cakes and sandwiches. Our next pond maintenance day will be in autumn 2026.
Corporate Volunteering Session with Aviva UK
An enthusiastic group of employees from Aviva UK took time out for a teambuilding day this week to volunteer with us at Whirlow Brook Park. There were eight staff who had travelled from Cheltenham, Barnsley and Bradford to help out in the park. After a health and safety briefing given by our chair Shelagh Woolliscroft, the team got stuck in. Tasks included clearing and replanting a flower bed next to Whirlowbrook Hall, repainting some of the park’s benches and clearing brambles and scrub from around the edges of the pond. The gardening work was a far cry from their day job as Relationship Managers for corporate pension schemes in Aviva UK. Their Team Leader, Delyth Williams, said: “We all had a great time, the park is really lovely and we were so pleased to be able to help out the Friends of Whirlow Brook Park who are doing a great job in restoring the park. They were all very welcoming and we learned a lot! Thanks for their support and guidance.
Our Chair, Shelagh Woolliscroft, reiterated Delyth’s comments: “We thoroughly enjoyed having the group from Aviva UK – they were such an enthusiastic and friendly bunch and got stuck in right away. They really made a difference in the park. We’d welcome them back anytime!”
If you work for an organisation that would like to take part in a corporate volunteer day in Whirlow Brook Park then please get in touch with the Friends group by email: fowp@friendsofwhirlowbrookpark.org.uk.
Student Volunteers
We have had a lot of help in the park from students, both from the University of Sheffield and
Sheffield Hallam University. Some are regular volunteers and some just come for a one-off session.
We had a regular group from the University of Sheffield Conservation Society who worked tirelessly
in our Community Orchard to clear brambles and scrub, logs and weeds. We have also had students
from local schools who volunteer as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award, and local Scouts from
the 265th Greenhill Scouts.
If you are a student and are interested in volunteering then please contact your University Students’
Union in the first instance or email us at fowp@friendsofwhirlowbrookpark.org.uk.