Conservation Volunteer at Heritage Site

Conservation Volunteer at a Heritage Site

Would you like to help us care for Bevis Marks Synagogue? We are planning to open the Dangoor Heritage Centre at Bevis Marks Synagogue in the spring and we need to make sure that the Synagogue is looking its best. Our project has restored many aspects of the building but the ongoing construction works have meant everything needs a bit of a polish!

We are setting up a new volunteering team to take care of the building and its furniture and fittings.

Responsibilities include:

• condition checking
• cleaning and restoring parts of synagogue fittings to ensure their correct preservation
• working on the furniture, the brasswork, leather, and textiles in the sanctuary

The team will help us understand how the increased number of visitors is impacting on the building. Following the training, we will have a programme of ongoing sessions running up to opening the synagogue and Dangoor Heritage Centre to the public. After that we will aim to have regular sessions of 2-3 hours to keep the synagogue looking its best.

Everyone on the team will need to come to the initial training sessions with our conservator and then we will draw up a schedule of ongoing conservation sessions. We won’t ask you to commit to a minimum number of sessions but we will ask you to come to Bevis regularly.

The Bevis Marks Synagogue Heritage Foundation is an independent charity, created in 2019 by the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Community, to preserve and manage the buildings, archives and collections of the Bevis Marks Synagogue.

The Foundation’s vision is to enable Bevis Marks’ living community to thrive and develop the Synagogue into a vibrant meeting-place which welcomes visitors of all faiths and none to celebrate and learn about the history, culture and traditions of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community.

Our aim is to pass on to future generations the heritage that has enriched our own lives and a legacy which ensures it is preserved and shared for the benefit of others for centuries to come.

Our current goals are to secure all the funds needed to complete the development project and to establish an endowment fund to help with future maintenance and preservation of the Synagogue.

Unit 10, Longfield Centre, Prestwich, Manchester