We gave part-time work to over 80 local people last summer in the House and Park, and again, this year, are offering the same opportunities. When I used to man the Astroglide in the Adventure Playground in the late 1970s I remember being paid in pence per hour (40p, I think) – now it’s £5.35 an hour, for everyone, from aged 16 up. Our part-time staff are also paid a pro-rata holiday entitlement – something, as students in the 1970s, working our holidays, we would have found very odd. Ah yes, in those days, the job began and ended with litter-picking (now contracted separately), bare-handed, prizing cigarette ends out of the mud… but I’m in danger of sounding like one of the Four Yorkshiremen!
Summer work in the Park is great fun, particularly for the young – but we are also pleased to be able to offer part-time work for the “not-quite-so-young”. 40 of our part-time staff last year chose to work in the House, as wardens or guides. Here, interaction with visitors is cited as one of the great pleasures and, year on year, we are thrilled by the lovely comments in our Visitors Book about the friendly and enthusiastic greeting our visitors receive.
So, if you’re looking to make some pocket money for that trip at the end of the summer or if you’d enjoy welcoming visitors and tourists to some fine Hertfordshire heritage, please consider contacting Cherry De Lacy (Park) or Mia Herbert (House) by telephone on 812661.
Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com