Volunteering with Oxfam

[EMorgz92]

Hi everyone! I'm thinking about volunteering at Boomtown with Oxfam, but I've never been to Boomtown before! Can anyone share their Oxfam volunteering experiences? Tips for a Boomtown virgin?! 

[jfaragher]

With the caveat that things may well change, as it's been a few years, and they're making quite a lot of changes to the site layout etc.

Oxfam in the past have (mainly) had stewards in the Downtown bowl area and the campsites around there - though note that this year all venues have been in the Downtown area.  This meant that many of the positions were at or close to venues.  Roles included campsite patrols, keeping the public safe at road crossings, helping with crowd stuff (though nothing too serious, mainly just pointing people in the right direction if they were doing seperate in / out entrances to venues kind of thing), and just generally being present around the place to help people find toilets / water / a bar / where stuff is.

You'll do three 8 and a quarter hour shifts, and the most common shift pattern is one morning (around 8am to 4pm) one evening (around 4pm to midnight) and one overnight (around midnight to 8am).  However, there is a lot of variation on this at Boomtown, as they need more coverage on venues.  I have met stewards who've had two 8pm to 4am shifts on Friday / Saturday for example - bad because those are the big nights, but they didn't have a third shift so swings and roundabouts I guess?  You absolutely will miss something that you really really wanted to see, and there's not really any way to avoid this - you just have to decide to be OK with it!

In terms of the volunteering experience, for me it's been much like the Boomtown experience in general.  In the main I've had a lot of fun, danced a lot, chatted to some cool people, heard some amazing bands and DJs.  Especially on the evening / night shifts, you can get some intense moments however - people tend to party pretty hard, and I've dealt with a fair few people who've had an impromtu lie-down in the middle of a venue or similar.  This can feel stressful, but you'll have good training, and be supported by a supervisor and shift management team to deal with this.

[incident]

3 hours ago, jfaragher said:

Oxfam in the past have (mainly) had stewards in the Downtown bowl area and the campsites around there - though note that this year all venues have been in the Downtown area.

It sounds like this year Boomtown won't have their own steward operation, and I'm sure that it's been said somewhere that Oxfam are taking increased numbers - so it seems likely that we've got the entire (albeit redesigned and condensed) site this time.

My Boomtown experience (2018) was good - most of the music isn't really to my taste, but it's hugely impressive as an interactive world and I always recommend to people that they really do need to go at least once just to experience it for themselves - even if they're not fussed about the music.. I was lucky in that my shifts were in the Hidden Woods which musically would be about the best possible place for me.

I did find the sheer volume of medical calls a bit disconcerting, especially on the Saturday night - I knew to expect it going in, but it's another thing to listen to the radio going flat out with only medical calls for several hours (and I believe it was similar on the other channels).

I remember that @amfy wrote up a couple of great posts detailing her Oxfam experience that year, and they're far better than anything I can come up with - they can be found here and are well worth a read:

[jfaragher]

42 minutes ago, incident said:

I did find the sheer volume of medical calls a bit disconcerting, especially on the Saturday night - I knew to expect it going in, but it's another thing to listen to the radio going flat out with only medical calls for several hours (and I believe it was similar on the other channels).

I am usually now on Comms (event control) for Oxfam, and the Friday / Saturday nights are like a proper job with managing all the medical calls and working with the other teams to make sure we're not missing anything or responding twice to anything.  Luckily we tend to have some really experienced supervisor stewards on those shifts who don't freak out and know the difference between "a bit too fucked" and "in need of help fucked".

/edit - it'll be interesting to see what the festival is like this year - Amfy's excellent post mentions how for her, finding those spots that were a bit less mental were key to her enjoying the festival, and I wonder if they'll be able to maintain that with all the venues in the bowl.  The scrapyard is something else though, and is an important data point on my theory that "the nastier the music, the nicer the crowd".

Edited March 28, 2022 by jfaragher

[amfy]

58 minutes ago, incident said:

It sounds like this year Boomtown won't have their own steward operation, and I'm sure that it's been said somewhere that Oxfam are taking increased numbers - so it seems likely that we've got the entire (albeit redesigned and condensed) site this time.

My Boomtown experience (2018) was good - most of the music isn't really to my taste, but it's hugely impressive as an interactive world and I always recommend to people that they really do need to go at least once just to experience it for themselves - even if they're not fussed about the music.. I was lucky in that my shifts were in the Hidden Woods which musically would be about the best possible place for me.

I did find the sheer volume of medical calls a bit disconcerting, especially on the Saturday night - I knew to expect it going in, but it's another thing to listen to the radio going flat out with only medical calls for several hours (and I believe it was similar on the other channels).

I remember that @amfy wrote up a couple of great posts detailing her Oxfam experience that year, and they're far better than anything I can come up with - they can be found here and are well worth a read:

Oh my lord! Thanks for digging that up! 🤣

[amfy]

27 minutes ago, jfaragher said:

I am usually now on Comms (event control) for Oxfam, and the Friday / Saturday nights are like a proper job with managing all the medical calls and working with the other teams to make sure we're not missing anything or responding twice to anything.  Luckily we tend to have some really experienced supervisor stewards on those shifts who don't freak out and know the difference between "a bit too fucked" and "in need of help fucked".

/edit - it'll be interesting to see what the festival is like this year - Amfy's excellent post mentions how for her, finding those spots that were a bit less mental were key to her enjoying the festival, and I wonder if they'll be able to maintain that with all the venues in the bowl.  The scrapyard is something else though, and is an important data point on my theory that "the nastier the music, the nicer the crowd".

Love that final line!

The medical stuff if crazy - on ketamine the punters can be flat out on the floor in seconds, and back up just as quickly! For most collapses, a bit of room and a bit of water is enough, but it doesn’t feel like that at the time. The person’s friends will all be panicking too, and then as soon as they get back up they’ll all be back on it! It is bonkers!

The one thing that really impressed me was how many were prepared to queue, for quite some time, to get their drugs tested at The Loop. This should be everywhere!

 

 

[EMorgz92]

6 hours ago, incident said:

It sounds like this year Boomtown won't have their own steward operation, and I'm sure that it's been said somewhere that Oxfam are taking increased numbers - so it seems likely that we've got the entire (albeit redesigned and condensed) site this time.

My Boomtown experience (2018) was good - most of the music isn't really to my taste, but it's hugely impressive as an interactive world and I always recommend to people that they really do need to go at least once just to experience it for themselves - even if they're not fussed about the music.. I was lucky in that my shifts were in the Hidden Woods which musically would be about the best possible place for me.

I did find the sheer volume of medical calls a bit disconcerting, especially on the Saturday night - I knew to expect it going in, but it's another thing to listen to the radio going flat out with only medical calls for several hours (and I believe it was similar on the other channels).

I remember that @amfy wrote up a couple of great posts detailing her Oxfam experience that year, and they're far better than anything I can come up with - they can be found here and are well worth a read:

Brilliant read, and very useful info. Thankyou for sharing!!

[Leyrulion]

5 hours ago, jfaragher said:

I am usually now on Comms (event control) for Oxfam, and the Friday / Saturday nights are like a proper job with managing all the medical calls and working with the other teams to make sure we're not missing anything or responding twice to anything.  Luckily we tend to have some really experienced supervisor stewards on those shifts who don't freak out and know the difference between "a bit too fucked" and "in need of help fucked".

/edit - it'll be interesting to see what the festival is like this year - Amfy's excellent post mentions how for her, finding those spots that were a bit less mental were key to her enjoying the festival, and I wonder if they'll be able to maintain that with all the venues in the bowl.  The scrapyard is something else though, and is an important data point on my theory that "the nastier the music, the nicer the crowd".

I'll be seeing you in the summer possibly then, or at least hearing you over the radio! 

It'll be my first boomtown so kinda excited to experience it, and I think being able to be in or around venues sometimes makes a shift a little more interesting and the time pass faster. 

I saw that there are Wednesday entry ticket for general admission, is that new this year? Does that mean there might be more early shift slots available?

[jfaragher]

12 hours ago, Leyrulion said:

I'll be seeing you in the summer possibly then, or at least hearing you over the radio! 

I saw that there are Wednesday entry ticket for general admission, is that new this year? Does that mean there might be more early shift slots available

Maybe - its possible I'll be there with another crew this year

They've had Wed admission since 2018 I think, I know that I was on site from Tuesday that year as I had an early shift (I skipped 2019).  I think they had about 1/4 to 1/3 of the stewards on site that day (though to be fair, I think a few just turned up without the early shift, because we wanted to be there for the Wed...).  Seeing as the on-site dates shown on the Oxfam website are from Wed, I suspect that they've got a bit more strict about who turns up when, though they'll still need a fair few to arrive Tues.

[Nuthugger]

Has anyone done recycling at Boomtown? If so whats it like - shift patterns etc

[Spacey]

I have a place volunteering in the Oxfam shop at Boomtown. First time at Boomtown and first time in a festival shop although have stewarded at quite a few festivals. Should be interesting!

[Leyrulion]

Does anyone know how the cashless system will work for volunteers? Obviously we won't have a ticket to be able to create an account on the system, I assume that's been there's a solution?

[Leyrulion]

Oxfam confirmed yesterday that there's no alcohol restrictions for volunteers, just as much as you can carry for personal consumption.

Spirits need to be in a sealed plastic bottle or "might" be confiscated.

[David A Carter]

I have volunteered with Oxfam at numerous festivals over the last five years, Boomtown last year was my first time but I loved it. It was a challange due to a combination of a very hot weekend, and the young crowd over indulging but I did find it great fun and incredibly rewarding. I discovered some great music as well during my down time so have already signed up again this year.

[emmmm]

Does anyone know how to tell if the oxfam stewarding opportunities are full already? I have made an account and a few weeks back I had the option of selecting boomtown and stewarding, however now it says "no festivals available" with a red comment at the top saying "we are not open yet" but I know they opened on the first of feb at 11am, so am concerned it is just because all the positions are full if this is even a possibility? 

 

[incident]

12 minutes ago, emmmm said:

Does anyone know how to tell if the oxfam stewarding opportunities are full already? I have made an account and a few weeks back I had the option of selecting boomtown and stewarding, however now it says "no festivals available" with a red comment at the top saying "we are not open yet" but I know they opened on the first of feb at 11am, so am concerned it is just because all the positions are full if this is even a possibility?

It looks like they've currently taken the application system down.

I don't know whether that's because they're full, or because they're working on the system at the moment.

Either way - it's likely to be a temporary thing, so I'd suggest checking back occasionally as they'll inevitably reopen it at some point.

[med]

There's Boomtown stewarding places currently available with Oxfam, in case anyone's interested.

[oskarmeyer]

23 hours ago, med said:

There's Boomtown stewarding places currently available with Oxfam, in case anyone's interested.

Hi, I am interested in this - where can I find the details?

[med]

3 hours ago, oskarmeyer said:

Hi, I am interested in this - where can I find the details?

Go onto oxfams website - festivals.oxfam.org.uk/volunteering/stewarding  sign up, create an account & select the festival you want to volunteer at.  
You will have to pay a deposit, which gets returned to you after the festival, as long as you attend all 3 of your shifts.