Do you love food, history and to meet/chat with new people?
Then we have the perfect opportunity to volunteer for you!
Calderdale Market Food Tours are run by Visit Calderdale, our Markets Team and local traders. The tours celebrate the history and heritage of our markets.
Each tour lasts about two hours. During the tour, visitors will:
- Discover the market's history.
- Taste a mix of local and international foods.
- Hear interesting stories from market traders.
We want volunteer tour guides to help run tours in Brighouse and Halifax. You will join a group of guides who share their availability 2–3 months ahead. Tours are led in pairs and you will get full support from the Visit Calderdale Team.
You need to attend the below training sessions and learn the tour content in your own time.
- Attending a food tour.
- Tour guiding skills and good practice.
- Tour delivery practice.
Brighouse Food Tours
The new Brighouse Open Market is now open. Our markets team and Visit Calderdale are planning a 'Brighouse Walking Food Tour', with the market as the main highlight.
We want a volunteer who knows Brighouse or has an interest in it to help create and lead the tour. To to this, you will need to:
- research the history of Brighouse;
- and work with Visit Calderdale to decide on the tour route.
Halifax Food Tours
These have run since December 2024. They are very popular and often sell out on a weekend.
We want volunteers to help deliver the tours on Saturdays, twice each month in Halifax Borough Market.
The role
- Meet and greet tour guests.
- To research and share historical information about the market. (Resources provided.)
- Show tour guests around the market.
- Chat with traders along the route.
- 2.5 hours of being physically active. (Walking and being on your feet for most of the tour.)
- You would be responsible for the tour guests' safety while they are on the tour. (A full risk assessment will be provided.)
About you
- Friendly, welcoming and easy to approach.
- Enthusiastic and energetic.
- A good communicator.
- Willing to do own independent research.
- Able to work in a team with your fellow tour guides.
- Passionate about your local area, interested in local history and/or 'a bit of a foodie'.
- Relatively physically fit, as you need to walk and, at times, climb steps.
- Able to attend Tour Guide training provided by Calderdale Council.
- Available to deliver a tour (at least):
- one Saturday a month in Halifax;
- or one Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday a month in Brighouse.
What we offer
- Full training, which covers:
- tour content;
- health and safety;
- and tour guiding good practice.
- You can shadow a member of staff as part of the training.
- Ongoing support from Visit Calderdale staff.
- A free lunch at the market every time you deliver a tour.
- Travel expenses up to £5.
- The chance to meet new people.