National Trust volunteering hits record

The figure, an increase of 30,000 in the last decade, equals the number of Games Makers at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London – events which appear to have boosted the profile of volunteering.

It is the first time the trust has passed the 70,000 mark.

Volunteers take on a range of tasks, from room guides and membership recruiters in National Trust properties to counting birds at conservation sites and cleaning beaches.

People give their time for everything from overnight patrols to help toads cross a busy road in the south of England during the mating season to a major spring clean at Victorian Gothic revival house Tyntesfield, near Bristol.

The South Lakes in Cumbria have the highest number of volunteers, with 937 helping look after the area of the Lake District, many of whom are involved on an occasional basis, while Tyntesfield is supported by 845 regular volunteers.

The trust’s oldest volunteer is 95-year-old Ron Price, who is a room steward at Buckland Abbey in Devon.