Improving the Festival

[r0cky]

Compared with years gone by, there aren't many pinch points now. The bridges are mostly sorted. Stuff like the late night area is difficult to fix... more people want to go each year, and the track limits what you can do.

What pinch points specifically were you thinking of?

Edited March 17, 2009 by r0cky

[sifi]

This hasn't been posted for a while.

[jr1312]

Couple of suggestions that we emailed to Mr Eavis (strangely no reply)

1) Big pub quiz on Weds/Thurs night at Jazz World. £5 a team - money all goes to charity.

2) A clean up song - I'm always pissed off by the state of the place (mainly by the big stages), we suggested that every so often they play some stupid song (like the teddy bears picnic) and during the song everyone cleans up for a couple of minutes. A couple of minutes every hour isn't much too ask and would make such a difference to the farm.

Also agree with the proper beer at more bars and the benches idea

[coolethan]

there were a million and twelve (at a rough guess) bins last year but that didn't stop huge amounts of waste being piled up next to and around them - they just weren't emptied often enough.

I did like that they were recycling bins though good call.

I do think some sort of deposit scheme should be put on cups/plastic glasses - The cardboard ones that the brothers use tend to start disintegrating about half way through a pint (obviously not drinking it fast enough) but the amount of cups left everywhere is mind boggling.

[MikeyB37]

1) Big pub quiz on Weds/Thurs night at Jazz World. £5 a team - money all goes to charity.

Edited March 17, 2009 by MikeyB37

[jr1312]

A great idea, but surely a logistical nightmare... i certainly wouldn't want the job of marking all those answer sheets!

[MikeyB37]

Hadn't got to the logistics as yet - maybe not have a winner, just do it for fun and a way of raising some funds?

[The Badger Bites Back]

Find the idiots who are moaning about the line-up on here and stop them getting into the festival.

[nina3d]

Couple of suggestions that we emailed to Mr Eavis (strangely no reply)

1) Big pub quiz on Weds/Thurs night at Jazz World. £5 a team - money all goes to charity.

2) A clean up song - I'm always pissed off by the state of the place (mainly by the big stages), we suggested that every so often they play some stupid song (like the teddy bears picnic) and during the song everyone cleans up for a couple of minutes. A couple of minutes every hour isn't much too ask and would make such a difference to the farm.

[Sam Crawley]

Just to give you all feedback - I received a response from Dick Vernon in the Glasto office:

Hello Sam,

These are all questions we have answered in the past, but for your info, I have replied in red adjacent to your questions. Hope this clarifies things for you – and reassures you we have been looking at these points – mostly for many years now. There are reasons why Glastonbury operates as it does and every aspect is thoroughly reviewed every year. I hope you find the responses reasonable and helpful.

Dick Vernon

From: Sam Crawley

To: Office Glastonbury

Subject: Glasto suggestions

Dear Glastonbury Organisers,

These are probably too late for this year’s festival, but here are a few suggestions for improving the festival from regular contributors to the eFestivals internet discussion board. The thread is available for perusal here: /index.php?showtopic=116454">http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/index.p...howtopic=116454

1. More benches (like that at the back of the Jazz World area) dotted about in random places - when the grass is gone, it's nice to have somewhere to have an occasional rest! The sleepers work really well – you don’t want the seating to be too comfy or people would never leave them, just somewhere to rest for a bit if the ground turns to mud. There are the best part of 1,000 around the site as it stands and every year we add to the total. There are constraints where we can site them as they can prove to be trip hazards – obviously around arenas, adjacent to roads, in walkways in markets etc that can get busy are all not starters.

2. The earlier Seeticket can send the tickets out the better – it’s a source of much stress to many visitors that they receive tickets mere days before the fest. Otherwise the system is great though, thank you so much! It’s a massive process which starts the week after refunds for returns are no longer paid out (i.e. 11th May ) and continues until all are sent. We aim to do that during the first week in June, and guarantee that they will arrive at least seven days before the Wednesday that Festival gates open. To bring forward the delivery of tickets would mean bringing forward the deadline date for providing refunds.

3. To avoid so many paper cups being used, how about re-usable plastic pint glasses with a deposit scheme? Having paper cups is an environmental decision. We have increased massively the amount of organic material composted since we had only card cups and plates and wooden cutlery on site. They can all go into our accelerated in vessel composter and break down quickly. WE used to have a significant amount rejected as being contaminated with plastic which then were sent to landfill, incurring costs. Nowadays that is not the case. To the best of my knowledge the re-usable plastic pint glasses used at some festivals currently go to Germany to be steralised as there is no suitable equipment in this country. Even if there were, it is unlikely to be in Somerset and the mileage involved would be unlikely to make it a green option – anyway plastic is an off shoot of the petrochemical industry while the card cups are made from off-cuts from the paper industry.

4. Porter scheme between car parks and site run by local community groups? For those who are struggling with what they have brought, could be a way for Scouts or similar to fund raise? While this may be an option with the smaller festivals – for example it is used successfully at Latitude where Oxfam stewards will either porter your goods or hire you a wheelbarrow – it is completely impracticable at Glastonbury. We have looked very carefully at this with Oxfam, at having wheelbarrows you hire at the car park, and leave with campsite stewards, at using tractors and trailers and so on, and have been unable to find an answer. The distances involved from the carparks, the 1,100 acres inside the fence, the way the campsites are spread all over the site, the numbers of stewards it would involve, the numbers of wheelbarrows etc just makes it impossible. If the licence were re-negotiated with a completely different site layout, separating out campsites and arena it could be more possible, but who would want that? Even then the thousands of staff it would involve would mean increasing the numbers of passes significantly – something the licensing authority would not want, so the only option would be to reduce the number of tickets on sale to the public, which would reduce income, and result in a reduction in entertainment. As I say we have looked at this all ways and cannot see it working in Glastonbury as it is – and as we want to keep it.

5. Big pub quiz on Weds/Thurs night at Jazz World. £5 a team, say, and all money all goes to charity. An underpinning concept at Glastonbury is inclusivity – once you are on site everything is free and accessible – there are no sponsors tents, no backstage private performances. From the moment you get your free programme to the moment you leave the only thing to cost you money is food drink and mementos that you purchase from the traders. Michael already gives some £2m to charities and good causes each festival and feels that ticket buyers should not be asked for any other charitable donations.

6. Periodic clean up song – many of us get angry about the state of the place (mainly by the big stages) given all the effort to provide bins etc, so how about every so often you play a silly song (like the teddy bears picnic) and during the song everyone cleans up for a couple of minutes. A couple of minutes every hour isn't much too ask and would make such a difference to the farm. We used to do a rubbish blitz in arenas – in fact we did it for many years - passing out bags and asking people to tidy around them but it caused some agro and did not achieve a tremendous amount. Every morning at dawn 1,000 litter pickers sweep the farm, starting in the arenas and markets and do an exceptional job

7. More ales at the main bars, and perhaps lager super-highways for those just buying lagers? The majority of people at the bars are just buying X pints of lager – how about them having an extra dedicated separate queue to other drinks? In terms of ales, Wherry is very much appreciated, but perhaps a second ale could be introduced? And maybe self-service for some beers? Coin slot machines or something? The demand for ale is not there in the main bars, as evidenced by sales figures – we have it as a service in the larger bars, and have two specialist real ale bars – the Red Flag in the Acoustic field and the Avalon Arms in the Field of Avalon. Self service beer – you must be joking. I have not time to list the reasons why not.

8. Selling cases of beer in the marketplace – as it is today large numbers of attendees bring in lots of alcohol purchased elsewhere to avoid the relatively expensive bars – how about Glasto makes reasonably-priced cans of lager, ale and mixers available somewhere during the day to take advantage of some of this trade? We discourage people bringing cases of beer on site, but we do not ban them – as some events do. We discourage them as the ringpull sometimes gets detached and trodden into the ground – and have been found in the stomachs of cows that have had to be destroyed having ingested them with the grass. We carefully monitor prices at other events, and keeping the overheads in mind in providing a bar on site, try to keep prices at a fair level. Yes they are more expensive than your neighbourhood local and more like city centre prices, but providing facilities in a field, meeting public demand for service, and the demands of Environmental Health etc is costly for the company with pouring rights – The Workers Beer Company.

9. Be less ambiguous about when the line-up will be released. Comments by Emily that most of it should be out before Xmas are a little unfair. Most people are excited and would love it to be out as soon as possible, but basically don't mind when it is released, just want to know roughly when that will be (to try to manage excitement levels a bit!) We normally plan to release the line up in early June – but sometimes performers make announcements which cause us to change plans. We would always wait until after ticket sales – as we want people to come to and enjoy the totality of the show, and not just to see a couple of performances. Glastonbury is about so much more than just the headliners – important as they are.

Thanks otherwise for an amazing festival, I am looking forward to attending again this year and forever more

Best wishes,

Sam Crawley

[nina3d]

Thanks Sam for doing this. I'm impressed by the full answers he's given. Just a couple of comments though...

2. The earlier Seeticket can send the tickets out the better – it’s a source of much stress to many visitors that they receive tickets mere days before the fest. Otherwise the system is great though, thank you so much! It’s a massive process which starts the week after refunds for returns are no longer paid out (i.e. 11th May ) and continues until all are sent. We aim to do that during the first week in June, and guarantee that they will arrive at least seven days before the Wednesday that Festival gates open. To bring forward the delivery of tickets would mean bringing forward the deadline date for providing refunds.

[Paul ™]

Good email there from Dick

I know him quite well, he is a reasonable guy and loves the festival.. trust me any improvements they do think of or get do get implemented

[Scott Martin 88]

the monorail will be powered this year by organic fuel made entirely from herbs grown in the garden of worthy farmhouse.

it will most certainly be running on thyme.

[pezzypops]

[rabid]

i was beginning to think that post was invisible

[pezzypops]

No, it was just an appaling joke. The sort that even I would be ashamed of.

[reni]

actually i wouldn't mind that

[pezzypops]

Newcastle Town moor would be perfect.On second thoughts.....

The Hoppings are on then and we know what the weather's like for that don't we???

[rabid]

Newcastle Town moor would be perfect.On second thoughts.....

The Hoppings are on then and we know what the weather's like for that don't we???

[hippy linda]

I thought Sams answers were mostly good but I really do have aproblem withthe choice of ales and i cannot see why they cannot have a local ale in EVERY BAR. Sams answer did not make it clear either.

Love the more seats, and the kittens but I dont think the kittens would be either practical or a safe thing to do,nor the Duck, as for the Mono rail,I had no trouble with it last year at all.

[grumpyhack]

I get upset by the litter - or more accurately I get upset by the people who casually and thoughtlessly drop litter. I've done litter picks at other festivals and once you've done a litter pick it really makes you conscious about not dropping rubbish anywhere - not just at festivals but in any public places.

The solution isn't to have more litter picks. It's to stop people littering in the first place.

I smoke but I won't ever drop a fag end. I carry them with me in a small airtight tin until I can find a proper bin.

If everyone around the site was encouraged to take part in a 15 minute litter pick every day it might raise awareness of the mess we leave and hopefully help reduce littering.

[pezzypops]

I thought Sams answers were mostly good but I really do have aproblem withthe choice of ales and i cannot see why they cannot have a local ale in EVERY BAR. Sams answer did not make it clear either.

Love the more seats, and the kittens but I dont think the kittens would be either practical or a safe thing to do,nor the Duck, as for the Mono rail,I had no trouble with it last year at all.

[grumpyhack]

the monorail will be powered this year by organic fuel made entirely from herbs grown in the garden of worthy farmhouse.

it will most certainly be running on thyme.

[Sam Crawley]

I thought Sams answers were mostly good but I really do have aproblem withthe choice of ales and i cannot see why they cannot have a local ale in EVERY BAR. Sams answer did not make it clear either.

Edited March 30, 2009 by Sam Crawley

[Bill Syke's Dog]

Large pyramids (25 feet high) made from oversized straw bales.

They had these at Secret Garden Party last year and served two purposes.

In dry weather they acted as a multi-tiered, 360 degree seating gallery but in wet weather the straw can immediately be put ot use as a floor covering without the bother of transporting it onto the site.

Clearly, the pyramids would not be sited in such a place as to block the view of a stage and a no smoking policy would apply although this didn't seem to bother the organisers at SGP.

Just a thought.