📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Manjushri KMC is an internationally renowned centre for meditation, where everyone is welcome to enjoy the peaceful environment or join in the many programmes offered throughout the year. This project allows volunteers to gain an insight and experience of living and working in a modern day Buddhist community, helping to gain a calm and relaxed mind and meeting others with shared perspectives and ideas.
💼 What the programme involves
Manjushri welcomes volunteers throughout the year to help with the running of the centre. Volunteers help with a wide range of tasks which may include helping in the kitchen, art studio, café, greenhouse, and publishing stock room, as well as gardening, cleaning the temple, painting/decorating, general cleaning, occasional maintenance, woodland clearing, general manual work and office tasks.
Please be prepared to be flexible and help wherever needed. At least some of the time, you are likely to end up working in pairs or small groups on a variety of tasks and will have the chance to meet and mix with other volunteers and residents at the centre. Although the work is not always strenuous you will need to be reasonably fit and active to join us.
Volunteers can also join daily guided meditation sessions if interested.
🏠 Accommodation on site
Volunteers sleep in basic dormitory accommodation usually in the main Priory building, in separate male/female rooms. Shared bathroom facilities are available. Meals are provided by the centre. All meals are vegetarian and volunteers are requested not to bring meat onto the premises. Smoking and alcohol are not permitted within the centre grounds.
📍 About the location
Manjushri KMC is based at Conishead Priory, a rambling Romantic Gothic mansion set in 70 acres of gardens and woodland that lead down to the shores of Morecambe Bay. The centre is located close to Ulverston which is a market town on the edge of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, the most north-western county in England, bordering Scotland.
⚠️ Requirements
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
• Volunteers attending this project need to be sympathetic to the Buddhist faith and realise the centre is used for meditation and reflection.
• Volunteers are asked to bring work clothes and practical boots for gardening/outside work.
DOCUMENTS:
A Certificate of Good Conduct is needed for this project.
ℹ️ Additional information
ACCESSIBILITY:
Volunteers need to be able to manage stairs, and walk on uneven ground in the outside areas.
EXTRA FEE:
£40 (GBP) - a small contribution to Concordia’s administration fees. If the volunteer needs a VISA to enter the UK, an additional £21 needs to be paid to Concordia to cover the cost of the VISA sponsorship certificate.