For the October 2026 Volunteer Newsletter, our volunteer story spotlight is on Meryll Wilford. Meryll is Chair of our Heritage Open Days Committee and has volunteered at the Trust in various capacities for nearly twenty years.
My memory is hazy, but I think I started volunteering with the Trust around 2007, when I retired from full-time employment with the Leeds City Council Department of Social Care. I attended the Planning Committee for a few months, then Activities Committee (now Events), which I eventually chaired for quite a few years. I enjoyed supporting the supper walk series and organised several of the annual summer away days. I helped to establish the Heritage at Risk group – now Heritage Watch – and continue to enjoy this area of the Trust’s work.
In an effort to work out when I first became involved with Heritage Open Days, I have resorted to looking through the leaflets the Trust produced every year to publicise the festival, so I reckon it was around 2008 as Lynda Kitching’s assistant. The Trust had first dipped its toe in the world of HODs in 1998 with a couple of events and the programme has grown each year till we now usually hit the 150 events mark but that’s over a 10 day period not the single weekend it once was. When Lynda retired I was supported by the Trust’s staff team until a small dedicated planning team was established around 6 years ago. The team currently includes Trust volunteers Jan Farrar, John Harris, Joan Hick, Roderic Parker, Garance Rawinsky, Steve Thornton and Sam Yates. Jodie is integral in ‘making HODs happen’ every year, greatly assisted by Ross and Amy.
As I enter my 80th year I still love HODs! I enjoy the quest for new stories, especially in far flung parts of the city and they are always there to be discovered. There is also the satisfaction of welcoming back those who have taken part before, some over many years. Meeting new people is a bit of a cliché but that’s been a major factor; HODs has resulted in friendships all over the city. My all time memorable event has to be the tours of Leeds prison in 2013; never to be repeated or forgotten and an event that truly embodies the HODs spirit of ‘free access to buildings not normally open to the public’!
