More and more people across South Cumbria are taking up “life-changing” roles as volunteers in the arts, culture and heritage sector.

The surge in interest has been prompted by Helping Hands, a two-year project to break down barriers to volunteering in the county’s cultural sector.

It has already placed 380 volunteers with more than 30 arts, heritage and culture organisations from theatres to museums and stately homes. A third of them have never volunteered before.

Jean Rurlander, who volunteers with Cumbria Opera, said: “I got involved mainly because I wanted to see some opera and make new friends. When you’re retired you sometimes need things to do to fill your time.”

Helen Speed, another volunteer at Cumbria Opera, is keen to encourage other volunteers saying: “You might find you have a talent for something they need doing and step into a role. You find out more about yourself just by turning up. People are grateful and it’s nice having people say thank you.”

Miguel Ramos, a volunteer at the Quaker Tapestry Museum in Kendal, also recommends it to others. He said: “My confidence has built up – before I was a bit quiet. If you’ve got spare time on your hands, it’s worth doing. It gets you out of the house and hopefully meeting people.”

Andrew Hirst, a young volunteer there, added: “To know that my work has an impact for a business that really needs it is wonderful.

“A lot of young people don’t see the reason for it but you get to learn so much more about industries you’ve never been in and you get to get experience you’d never have gotten.”

Helping Hands, funded by Arts Council England, puts would-be volunteers in touch with arts and heritage organisations, providing one-to-one mentoring, training and other support such as help with transport.

Jay Anson, inclusive volunteer lead at Helping Hands, said: “After Covid a lot of arts organisations lost a lot of their regular volunteers. Helping Hands is a project to reinvigorate volunteering but also bring in people who perhaps in the past haven’t seen these organisations as places they feel a part of.”

Helping Hands is led by Cumbria Museum Consortium and involves 45 partner organisations.

It is also working with Anti Racist Cumbria, Multicultural Cumbria, Cumbria Deaf Association and Triple A (Autism) Project to provide training and support for individuals.

To find out more about volunteering opportunities visit www.helpinghandscumbria.org or call 07442 972270.