The National Trust at  Bodiam Castle  are looking to recruit a couple of Kent students to participate in, or simply attend on a short term basis, the Bodiam Castle Advisory Committee.

The committee was originally set up as part of Lord Curzon’s gift to the National Trust in 1926, to ensure that the Castle was looked after ‘by learned people’ in perpetuity. The committee is there to help the National trust protect Lord Curzon’s gift to the nation and are very keen to recruit informed representatives of the younger generation to it.

Bodiam is a fascinating site, which, as well as being a fourteenth-century moated castle, includes within its landscape evidence of a key Neolithic, then Roman, then Medieval, cross roads; a Roman Fort; and evidence of medieval fish and Mill ponds. It’s wharf area was once a thriving port and it is still possible to travel by boat to Bodiam Castle.

This is a unique and exciting opportunity for one or two interested students to enrich their knowledge and understanding of how museums or heritage bodies work. Sitting on the Bodiam Advisory Committee means having a role in decision making about the Castle going forward and also experiencing first hand how the National Trust works with such inherited bodies. Bodiam’s General Manager of Portfolio is always on the committee and senior members of Bodiam staff regularly attend to give presentations and updates.

Any student interested in a future within museums or heritage will gain enormous insights into the way heritage charities work with trustees and similar bodies. You will gain first-hand understanding of the pressures to conserve and protect the built and landscape environments, whilst also raising necessary funds to carry out such work.

If you are interested, please contact Dr Michele Moatt with your CV and a brief explanation of why you would like to volunteer on the committee: Michele.Moatt@nationaltrust.org.uk