Silent Pilgrimage Guides

Silent Pilgrimage Volunteer Guides

Thanks to the sold-out success of our recent Silent Pilgrimages, we are expanding the programme country-wide. Are you passionate about pilgrimage and confident leading a group? We need people like you. Learn to lead our silent guided pilgrimages, inspire others, and help to raise funds for our wider work.

Current vacancies

• Newcastle upon Tyne
• Bradford, Lincoln
• Southwell
• Bury Saint Edmunds
• Gloucester, St Albans
• London
• Exeter
• Bangor

Read about the experience in The Church Times.

Our 1-day silent pilgrimage guides lead groups on various day routes around the country, helping more people discover the benefits of this wonderful tradition. You’ll be given full, bespoke training in how to engage a group of people, and the practical tips you may need to help your pilgrims have a deeply contemplative experience. To get an idea of what’s involved, check The Guardian’s review. The income raised from guided pilgrimages go straight towards funding our wider work. By volunteering as a guide you directly contribute to exciting projects, free resources, and our volunteer team.

Tasks

• Guide silent pilgrimages for paying pilgrims, along a specific 1-day routes around the country.
• Help to coordinate the logistics for the pilgrimage events, such as checking health and safety, ensuring the route is appropriate, and liaising with pilgrims, waypoints, and destinations
• Help to promote the pilgrimages and collate pre-event information.
• Provide feedback on the completed guided pilgrimages, celebrating successes, sharing any opportunities for improvement, and content for social media.\

Commitment

The frequency of your guided pilgrimages are up to you, but we would expect those leading the majority of our routes to be available at least three times a year. You will also need to attend training and volunteer catch-ups (calls, online or in person) a few times a year.

About You

You will need to be physically able to walk all of the route for your intended pilgrimage. You’ll be able to spend the day in silence, manage a group of people, be happy to approach individuals, businesses and the local community to chat about your route and the British Pilgrimage Trust. You’ll be reliable and have good organisational skills. You will be able to work in line with our policies and procedures, including Open to All, GDPR and Safeguarding. You may be required to undertake a DBS check. Perhaps most importantly, you’ll have a real passion for pilgrimage.

Volunteer Benefits

• Volunteer newsletter
• Bespoke training
• Free access to the Old Way Online Guide
• 15% off Cotswolds Outdoors (for all your pilgrim kit!)
• 30% yearly subscriptions to Guru Maps app for pilgrim navigation.
• No one should be out of pocket for volunteering, so we reimburse reasonable travel expenses.