Student Volunteering Week at Hartpury University and Hartpury College is more than a celebration, it’s a snapshot of what makes this community distinctive. Across campus, on farms, in clinics, at conferences, and within the wider Gloucestershire community, students are stepping forward, gaining experience, and shaping their futures.
From pitch-side first aid and equine therapy to orchard pruning and international conferences, volunteering at Hartpury isn’t an add-on to an academic course. It’s embedded into the culture of learning.
Equine and Animal: Learning through care and practice
Equine Therapy Centre
At the Equine Therapy Centre, students support the care of horses in a real-world setting, working alongside industry experts who deliver rehabilitation and therapy programmes. They learn how to use a range of facilities including the Aqua Equine Treadmill, as well as seeing the day-to-day running of a commercial equine business. In addition, students support research activities investigating areas such as saddlery fit, where data collection exercises play a role in shaping equine welfare.
Animal Collection
University Animal students can volunteer with the animal collection during weekends and non-term time. Due to its popularity, spaces are booked in advance, with college students also completing required hours as part of their course.
Volunteers are treated as part of the professional team. They may be involved in:
- Preparing feeds and feeding a variety of animals
- Cleaning enclosures and maintenance of the facilities
- Health checking a variety of animals
- Maintaining hygiene and biosecurity standards across the animal collection
Volunteering with the collection allows students to gain transferable skills across the animal industry, from nutrition and health and safety to practical DIY skills. Crucially, it gives them an honest insight into day-to-day realities: the dedication, routine, and professionalism required to work in animal care and management.
Sport and Exercise: From Lab to Pitch
Human Performance and Lab Support
Students across many courses support lab-based sport sessions, assisting with data collection for outreach visits and commercial testing bookings. These experiences expose students to professional testing environments within a biomechanics and human performance lab. They experience the protocols involved when working with commercial clients, and learn more about applied sport science in action, strengthening both technical competence and employability.
Sports Therapy: Building Clinical Confidence
Work-based learning is carefully scaffolded throughout sports therapy programmes to develop clinical competence, professionalism, and confidence expected of graduate Sports Therapists.
Volunteering opportunities include:
· Pitch-side first aid (Academy teams): BSc (Hons) Sports Therapy first-year and MSc Sports Therapy students are trained to provide first aid support throughout the competitive season.
· Pitch-side mentoring: BSc and MSc students mentor others across the season, strengthening leadership and professional practice.
· Student-led clinic: BSc second- and third year and MSc students deliver a free, supervised service to Hartpury students and staff, assessing, treating, and rehabilitating injuries under academic guidance.
Students have also supported external-facing events, including the UKAF Remembrance Day Rugby International and Children In Need events, expanding their professional networks beyond campus.
Sports fixtures
With so many sporting fixtures across the sports academies and with external pathway teams including Hartpury RFC, Hartpury FC, and Gloucester Hartpury WRFC, students can volunteer in a range of capacities, whether helping with coaching, matchday logistics, or marketing. These opportunities not only allow students to immerse themselves in their sport but also make potentially useful contacts for their future.
Agriculture and the Environment: Community in Action
Agriculture students continue to make a visible impact both on campus and across Gloucestershire.
Highlights include:
· Lambing support: Evening and weekend volunteering during busy lambing periods. This was highlighted during a special episode of BBC Countryfile in 2025, where Hartpury College students demonstrated their skills at one of the busiest times in the agricultural calendar.
· Newent Cricket Club: Fence repair and hedge planting within the community.
· Hartpury Lake project: Second-year T Level Crop Production students replacing fishing platforms.
· Orchard pruning (3–9 February): Working behind Hartpury House in partnership with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust to maintain and re-establish orchards.
· Tree planting initiative: Supporting the Trust’s goal to plant one million trees across Gloucestershire by 2030, with 11,000 trees planted on campus.
· Department bake sale: Raising £120 for the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution.
Students also volunteer at Course Information Mornings, help with events at the Digital Innovation Farm, lead farm tours, help with Open Farm Sunday, share first-hand experiences, and even drive tractors to escort visiting families, a true Hartpury welcome.
Business, Events, and Industry Experience
Within the Hartpury University Business and Management Department, volunteering is opening doors across the equine industries. Real-world placement success stories from Equine Business Management students:
· Holly Styler volunteered during her placement with Harry Sykes, a former Hartpury College Pentathlon Team member. Her dedication led to paid work with Horse & Country during filming of All Stars Academy at Hartpury.
· Alisha Raines volunteered with Cotswold Fox. Her involvement has evolved into developing a data-driven marketing strategy for the business as part of her undergraduate dissertation.
· Lily Hamble gained experience across departments at Ascot Racecourse during her placement, later securing a paid summer role as a Hospitality Fulfilment Executive.
· Phoebe Murray volunteered at Tweseldown Racecourse, supporting the delivery of British Eventing fixtures and working alongside high-profile riders throughout the event calendar.
Equine events and competitions
Students have an opportunity to volunteer at the annual international equine events, where World, Olympic, and European champions compete on Hartpury soil. At the NAF Five Star International Hartpury Horse Trials, British champions are also crowned with the British Open a particular highlight of the Hartpury sporting calendar.
Students can volunteer for a range of roles including fence judging, dressage writing, and logistics, as well as being able to volunteer at evening and weekend shows throughout the year. These roles provide first-hand experience of the day-to-day running of a busy show centre.
Hartpury Sports Business Hub
The Hartpury Sports Business Hub provides students and staff the opportunity to engage with key local and regional sports organisations to complete live briefs and real-world research consultancy.
The Hub currently provides access to a range of organisations including Active Gloucester, Sport Wales, Bream RFC and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club as well as multinational corporations and independent businesses.
Conferences and Professional Events
Each year, students volunteer at the Alltech-Hartpury Equine Student Conference, an annual event showcasing student research in a whole host of equine areas. They help with logistics and on-the-day tasks. Budding photographers are often given the opportunity to act as official conference photographer, adding professional portfolio experience.
Students also volunteer at ABTC-related events at Hartpury, as well as:
· Canine and Companion Animal Student Conference (CCASC) – April 2026
· Assistance Dog Support Days
· Association of Pet Dog Trainers assessment days
These experiences strengthen organisational skills, client interaction, and professional confidence.
Community, Health, and Emergency Response
Students on a range of college sport diplomas have supported initiatives such as the Big Health Day, showcasing a range of exercises to help members of the community stay active.
Uniformed Protective Services (UPS) students support the Gloucestershire emergency service exercise each year, gaining exposure to multidisciplinary teamwork and real-world scenario planning.
A Culture of Contribution
What connects all these opportunities is impact. Students enhance their studies not only by applying theory in authentic settings, but by contributing meaningfully, to animals, athletes, businesses, charities, and the wider community.
At Hartpury University and Hartpury College, volunteering isn’t separate from education. It is education, lived, practised, and experienced.
Student Volunteering Week is a moment to recognise the hours given, the skills developed, and the confidence built. But at Hartpury, this spirit runs all year round.
