Community Activities & Volunteering Lead

Sydenham Garden is seeking a Community Activities & Volunteering Lead on a Fixed term contract to end of December 2027 to join our team of 14 staff and approximately 70 volunteers in delivering adult mental health and dementia services in our beautiful garden settings in south-east London. 

Position: Community Activities & Volunteering Lead

Contract: Fixed term to 31st December 2027, full time - 37.5 hours per week. Some regular working outside Monday-Friday 9-5 may be required, for which TOIL will be available. Part time and flexible working applications also considered.

Salary: £32,644 plus 6% pension contribution.

Annual Leave: 33 days inclusive of Bank Holidays.

Location: Sydenham Garden Resource Centre, SE23 2LW & De Frene Market Garden, SE26 4AB.

Application closing date: Thursday 5 March 2026, 9am.

Interview date: Thursday 12 March 2026.

About the role

Sydenham Garden, based in Lewisham in South-East London, is a unique wellbeing centre utilising its gardens, nature reserve and activity rooms to help people living with and recovering from mental and physical ill-health. We provide nature and arts based creative, social and therapeutic activities for co-workers (the name we give to our primary beneficiaries). With funding from The National Lottery Community Fund to help us ‘grow our community’ and increase the sustainability of our impact we’re seeking a Community Activities & Volunteering Lead to drive continuous improvement and development of volunteer-led community activities for the benefit of co-workers as well as managing the day to day running of our volunteer programme.

About you

You’ll have experience of recruiting, working with, and managing volunteers, including delivery of skill-building and development activities for volunteers with Lived Experience of mental and/or physical ill health. You’ll have excellent people skills and the ability to demonstrate sensitivity, kindness, and a person-centred understanding of different mental, physical, and neurological needs. You’ll have experience of delivering group activities and working with people with mental/physical-ill health and/or dementia. You’ll have line management experience and be able to provide strategic direction as well as be able to innovate and develop new initiatives and balance competing priorities while being willing to play a team role and get stuck into different activities.

Why you should join us 

We’re a friendly team who are passionate about creating a supportive and inclusive community for people living with mental and physical ill-health. You’ll be part of a supportive team of staff and volunteers, and benefit from spending time in our beautiful gardens and nature reserve.  

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Sydenham Garden is committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). We want to build a diverse and inclusive staff, volunteer and trustee team where everyone feels that they belong and that reflects the profile of the communities we serve. Therefore, we will welcome and consider applications from candidates of all backgrounds and protected characteristics, and we particularly encourage applications from people of African or Caribbean heritage to ensure our staff team represents the communities we serve.

Recruitment Timeline

Deadline for applications: Thursday 5th March 2026, 9am.

Interviews: Thursday 12th March 2026.

PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENT BELOW TO DOWNLOAD THE JOB DESCRIPTION & PERSON SPECIFICATION AND FOR FULL DETAILS OF HOW TO APPLY INCLUDING OUR EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES MONITORING FORM.