Do you love food, history, and meeting and chatting to new people?
Then we’ve got the perfect volunteering opportunity for you!
The Calderdale Market Food Tours are an initiative between Visit Calderdale, Calderdale Markets team and local traders. Their aim is to raise awareness of our markets’ rich heritage.
Over two hours, visitors:
- Learn about the market’s history.
- Sample a variety of local and international food.
- Hear fascinating stories from market traders.
The tours have been running since December 2024, and have proven very popular, regularly selling out on a weekend. Currently, the Food Tour runs twice a month in Halifax Borough Market. Although there may be more tours in other market locations in the future.
We’re looking for volunteer tour guides to help deliver the food tours on a Saturday. Volunteers would join a bank of guides who provide their availability 2-3 months in advance. Tour guides deliver the tours in pairs. They are provided with ongoing support from Visit Calderdale staff. This includes a thorough onboarding programme.
Volunteers need to attend the below training sessions. They would be expected to learn the tour content in their own time.
- Food tour experience and induction.
- Tour guiding skills and good practice.
- Delivering your own tour.
The role
- Meeting and greeting tour guests.
- Sharing historical information about the market (resources and loose tour script will be provided).
- Showing tour guests around the market.
- Initiating conversations with traders along the route.
- 1.5 hours of being physically active. (Walking, being on feet for majority of tour).
- You would also be responsible for the tour guests’ safety whilst on the tour. (A full risk assessment will be provided).
About you
- Friendly, welcoming and approachable.
- Enthusiastic and energetic.
- A good communicator.
- Able to work in a team (with your fellow tour guides).
- Passionate about your local area, interested in local history and ‘a bit of a foodie’.
- Relatively physically fit, as tour involves walking and potentially climbing steps.
- Able to attend Tour Guide training provided by Calderdale Council.
- Available at least one Saturday a month to deliver a tour.
What we offer
- Full training, covering tour content, health and safety, and tour guiding good practice.
- Shadowing 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.