The Organisation

The Churches Conservation Trust is the national charity saving historic churches at risk

They have saved over 350 buildings which attract almost 2 million visitors a year. The unique collection of English churches includes irreplaceable examples of architecture, archaeology and art from 1,000 years of history. They work in partnership with local communities to keep churches open and in use – living once again at the heart of their communities.

The challenges

For organizations:

The report prepared by the NCVO suggests that volunteering carries huge benefits for those who take part. It can give individuals the chance to contribute to their community and make a difference to the causes that are meaningful to them and the Time Well Spent research, 75% of respondents reported that volunteering directly improved their mental health and wellbeing. However not everyone is able to participate equally, with disabled people voicing have a different experience of volunteering to non-disabled people.

On average they report lower levels of satisfaction and significant barriers. These include practical barriers, as well as cultural and attitudinal barriers. Barriers come from the public, organisations, paid staff, and other volunteers.

For Jack:

Jack is in his final employability year at college and finding him a suitable work experience/volunteering placement was proving difficult in his home town. Jack has a great interest in people, places and audio recording, helping him to use his amazing voice. The aim was also to secure a placement which would be sustainable for him once he left college.

The Solutions

A disability awareness session was delivered to the National Glass Centre team in April 2023, one of the participants was Posy Jowett, who contacted us afterwards with feedback from her experience. There was then a gap in our working together as Posy joined a new organization and eventually got in touch again in December 2023 to express an interest in working with us again.

Following a health and safety audit in March 2024 of the amazing space, which is Holy Trinity Church in Sunderland, and discussions to prepare an offer for Jack. A job description was written and Jack applied for the role.

Jack attended an interview with Posy:

Interview Feedback

It was lovely to meet Jack yesterday! He’s clearly enthusiastic, got a great sense of humour and good with people. We’re looking forward to him joining the team.

Planning and preparing for a great experience

Posy took time to prepare for Jack, sharing all information ahead of him starting to give time for processing. The team at the college were also involved in supporting Jack to understand the tasks, with samples of the guide being shared with him to practice ahead of joining the team and Laura was identified to be Jack’s job coach:

The schedule:

10-12 behind the front desk

12-1 lunch at the café tables

1-3 upstairs in the library for working on audio recording most weeks (on 1 May we have the community lecture from 2pm and it would be great if Jack wanted to watch it!)

Tasks

Folding and stapling guides

Reading through a large print guide of what’s on that day so he can tell visitors about any activity happening in the building

Welcoming people into the venue

Afternoon

Jack will work in the Library upstairs to record audio for the building guide.

Reasonable adjustments:

Large print What’s on Guide easier to read on yellow paper.

Downstairs at the front desk there’s one office chair and we can pull up a chair for Jack’s support worker.

Upstairs, Jack is welcome to use the comfy armchairs or else we can bring some chairs and a table upstairs for him to work on. What would be most appropriate? If Jack needs a more specialised chair upstairs then it would be good to make a plan for that in advance.

Jack using his magnifier to support his reading.

Outcomes against targets

Administrative roles

ay and supporting visitors to understand the offer

Welcoming visitors and supporting them to get the most out of visits

Completing a recording of a buildings guide.

Working with Seventeen Nineteen at the Holy Trinity church offered Jack the opportunity to develop his skills in all areas and he has achieved so much more than the original targets set.

The video below accessible on YouTube is testament to Jacks ability to produce an amazing audio presentation

Feedback

From Jack:

I enjoyed work experience, the staff were friendly and helpful, I learned a lot.

From Seventeen Nineteen:

Between May and July, 2024 Jack Coates-Dutton joined the Seventeen Nineteen team for a work experience placement through The Percy Hedley Foundation’s Hedley’s Beyond programme.

Jack and his support worker spent Wednesdays welcoming visitors into the building, providing information for guests and helping to produce our What’s On guides.

Jack’s aspiration is to one day read out the announcement information at airports. So, with that in mind, we worked together with Jack to produce the narration for our video building guide and the results speak for themselves. Thank you for all of your hard work Jack.

The Seventeen Nineteen team would like to thank the Percy Hedley Foundation, Jack and his family, his support worker Laura, and all of the visitors who helped make Jack’s time with us so enjoyable.

The Future:

The team at Seventeen Nineteen had this to say

“We have had a great experience working with Percy Hedley! Our team are all finishing in October at the end of our project otherwise we’d be taking on another student next year. As an individual I will recommend this programme to other organisations because we’ve all loved meeting Jack and working with Percy Hedley.”

The team at Seventeen Nineteen have also indicated that they would like to work with the Percy Hedley team to access disability awareness training and an accessibility audit.

It is clear that this organization are willing to engage in different activities to ensure that they are as inclusive as possible, both in terms of their volunteering opportunities and their visitor experience.

Jack has now left the Percy Hedley college and is still looking to work with the National Glass centre, his family were invited to the end of placement celebration and it was clear to see that as a family they are keen to support Jack to be a part of the Sunderland community.