Volunteering 2023

[moogster]

19 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

I broadly agree with everything else you say, but have to counter on this one - you're a steward, its one of the majorly visible roles and first contact with the festival proper a lot of people have every day, i dont want to sound like a boring company man but its really not much to ask for people to be stood up and at least vaguely engaging with the role. There's barely a position where sitting is even vaguely appropriate. We had a couple of people on our second shift who nigh on demanded a seated role, and then sat around with faces like wet weekends moaning about basically everything, skipped off without being relieved at the end of their shift full of beans, and then didnt turn up for their last one. Dicks. 

It goes quicker if you get stuck in, stay on your feet, engage positively, and just get into the role instead of moaning. (and I'm not suggesting you were one of the moaning types btw! i'm more whingeing at the people who skipped out on my shift!)  

Is there a kind of reserve stewards list? As in one doesn't show up so they can dispatch a new one?

 

[Jay Pee]

1 hour ago, Johnnyseven said:

Having done Oxfam I thought I might give Wateraid a go next year if I don't get a ticket. A friend did it this year and from his reports it seems much easier than the Oxfam shifts. Previously I got stumped on the question on the application 'What have you done to support Wateraid in the past?' as the answer was pretty much nothing. I'm doing the Super 6 at Swim Serpentine in September and thought I might get sponsored and give the cash to Wateraid, then i'll be able to answer that question.

Give me a pm nearer the time when applications are opening for Wateraid next year and I may be able to help.  Have been with Wateraid for a few years now and you would likely get Loo Crew as first stint but it is not that bad (honestly).

I cant compare other volunteering as I have only done it with them but the shifts are generally in daylight hours and in amongst the festival areas.  There are not many volunteering roles at all in the dark hours meaning the body clock can retain some level of stability.  Apart from the 6am start and one is still in the SE corner at 4am (your honour)

[This_Fields_Good]

7 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Would love to see a few full reports from non-oxfam volunteers - where they camp, the pros and cons, shift allocations, when they can arrive, etc etc. Ive done three years with oxfam and enjoy it, and am very happy to continue, but wouldnt mind trying someone else if it were a bit easier on the feet 😄

I did Recycling Crew as a first time volunteer.  I was permitted to be onsite from sunday (maybe saturday) and turned up on the monday pm following advice from this thread. Main camping field was Tom's Field, which wasn't especially full, but even on monday I was encouraged on arrival to camp in the overflow field Brimley 2.  Brimley 1 (designated for WaterAid volunteers) is immediately west of Tom's field, and Brimley 2 is further west about 6-8 mins walk from Tom's Field.  You are obliged to camp there pre-festival, but I think it is permissible to relocate to general camping once the gates open to punters, but cannot confirm as I don't know of anyone that did.  By thursday, both Tom's Field and Brimley 2 were 'standing room only' !

AFAIK, majority of Recycling Crew were litter picking, and of these the majority seemed to be doing 4 x 6 hour shifts from 06:00 - 12:00, so getting up (unless you pulled an all-nighter) around 05:00.
First shift (pre-music days) was the worst as you finish clearing the first location quite quickly and then get seconded to other/busier areas. For me, that was starting on northern side of site, then round the trader areas, and then to top of Park area finishing above Glastonbury sign. Very labour intensive, but you may find some free money, cans and drugs, if any of that floats-yer-boat !?!

Other shifts were in one location cos there's so much dropped crap during the 3 music days; reasonably hard work and by the last shift, back pain had supplanted tired foot plain. But apart from final shift you tended to have finished 30-60 minutes before the full 6 hour shift.

Use of showers was a welcome novelty to me (only been a punter previously), but as most people were finishing shift at noon, you either had to sprint to beat the queues or wait till later. Each shift worked gave 2 food vouchers, but the food was veggie, not great, and again had predictable queues. But I was grateful for the calories and fluids at 5am before starting shift.

Loved the extra days, facilities, crew bars, etc. but had to restructure the whole event around work shifts and stamina. Never actually made it to SE Corner at night, and there is still a pint of Brothers toffee apple cider with my name on it out there somewhere...

Nonetheless, I'll likely be back - Buying tickets gets harder every year anyway.

[Jay Pee]

25 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

I broadly agree with everything else you say, but have to counter on this one - you're a steward, its one of the majorly visible roles and first contact with the festival proper a lot of people have every day, i dont want to sound like a boring company man but its really not much to ask for people to be stood up and at least vaguely engaging with the role. There's barely a position where sitting is even vaguely appropriate. We had a couple of people on our second shift who nigh on demanded a seated role, and then sat around with faces like wet weekends moaning about basically everything, skipped off without being relieved at the end of their shift full of beans, and then didnt turn up for their last one. Dicks. 

It goes quicker if you get stuck in, stay on your feet, engage positively, and just get into the role instead of moaning. (and I'm not suggesting you were one of the moaning types btw! i'm more whingeing at the people who skipped out on my shift!)  

Have to agree.

Blister pack for feet (contingency)
Energy salts drink
Ibuprofen
Comfy boots
Can do attitude
A pair of Tessies (metaphorical ones are fine)

Will get anyone through the shift.  Sitting down switches the mind off too quickly 

[Crazyfool01]

is the standing that hard or is it because people come to the role from office based jobs which make the change more physically demanding on the feet ?

[balti-pie]

12 minutes ago, moogster said:

Is there a kind of reserve stewards list? As in one doesn't show up so they can dispatch a new one?

 

There is, it sounds like quite a fun role - not knowing where you’ll be despatched to, and then sweeping in like an angel to sort everything out 😁 though a couple of people I know had that role on the Tuesday night, and there was nobody that needed any help so they sat there on a night shift in the marquee, bored out of their minds, unable to leave or do anything til 6am. Sometimes doing nothing is a worse punishment than doing a boring something - I’d far rather have a job, even if it’s as pointless as button clicking (which is an oxfam role, and one i’m quite happy to do - literally clicking once for each person who comes through the wide load aisle! With great responsibility comes great . . . strong right thumbs) 

Edited July 4, 2023 by balti-pie

[Jay Pee]

36 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Would love to see a few full reports from non-oxfam volunteers - where they camp, the pros and cons, shift allocations, when they can arrive, etc etc. Ive done three years with oxfam and enjoy it, and am very happy to continue, but wouldnt mind trying someone else if it were a bit easier on the feet 😄

I am probably going to do one of these for comms and engagement at work (when I get the time) and will share.  I cant complain in any way about the Wateraid camping and welfare arrangements.  Apart from when one is in the Park Area dazed and confused at 5am and it is one heck of a walk back to Worthy Farm.

[Aragorn]

10 minutes ago, This_Fields_Good said:

I did Recycling Crew as a first time volunteer.  I was permitted to be onsite from sunday (maybe saturday) and turned up on the monday pm following advice from this thread. Main camping field was Tom's Field, which wasn't especially full, but even on monday I was encouraged on arrival to camp in the overflow field Brimley 2.  Brimley 1 (designated for WaterAid volunteers) is immediately west of Tom's field, and Brimley 2 is further west about 6-8 mins walk from Tom's Field.  You are obliged to camp there pre-festival, but I think it is permissible to relocate to general camping once the gates open to punters, but cannot confirm as I don't know of anyone that did.  By thursday, both Tom's Field and Brimley 2 were 'standing room only' !

AFAIK, majority of Recycling Crew were litter picking, and of these the majority seemed to be doing 4 x 6 hour shifts from 06:00 - 12:00, so getting up (unless you pulled an all-nighter) around 05:00.
First shift (pre-music days) was the worst as you finish clearing the first location quite quickly and then get seconded to other/busier areas. For me, that was starting on northern side of site, then round the trader areas, and then to top of Park area finishing above Glastonbury sign. Very labour intensive, but you may find some free money, cans and drugs, if any of that floats-yer-boat !?!

Other shifts were in one location cos there's so much dropped crap during the 3 music days; reasonably hard work and by the last shift, back pain had supplanted tired foot plain. But apart from final shift you tended to have finished 30-60 minutes before the full 6 hour shift.

Use of showers was a welcome novelty to me (only been a punter previously), but as most people were finishing shift at noon, you either had to sprint to beat the queues or wait till later. Each shift worked gave 2 food vouchers, but the food was veggie, not great, and again had predictable queues. But I was grateful for the calories and fluids at 5am before starting shift.

Loved the extra days, facilities, crew bars, etc. but had to restructure the whole event around work shifts and stamina. Never actually made it to SE Corner at night, and there is still a pint of Brothers toffee apple cider with my name on it out there somewhere...

Nonetheless, I'll likely be back - Buying tickets gets harder every year anyway.

 

I too did recycling Crew this year for the first time.  I was post festival shifts, was pretty hard work and I racked up around 250,000 steps over 7/8 days.  The Tuesday-Thursday shifts are 8am to 5pm and are hard work.  You basically go around every single camping field clearing the litter.  We did 8 campsites in record time this year apparently so they sent us out to the car parks Thursday  

I was pretty knackered by Thursday and consider myself reasonably fit.  The camaraderie was good and I met some great people.  I will be applying again next year but will ask for in festival shifts I think as 10/11 days from getting there the Monday before the festival was a tough gig. 

[Jay Pee]

14 hours ago, glast0gal said:

Strewth! Were they a group of punters? Risking asking a daft question but what actually happens to people who are still on site at that time? Does anyone actually make their way round the site telling people to clear off or are they just left to their own devices? Whenever I've left, it's always felt like queuing for a helicopter out of Saigon.

Punters.  Enjoying a herbal pick me up.  It was so funny as one of the recyclers was pointing to and lifting up items and asking if they were rubbish.  The festival equivalent of someone asking you to lift the feet up as they vac around them.

[balti-pie]

8 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

is the standing that hard or is it because people come to the role from office based jobs which make the change more physically demanding on the feet ?

Little from column A, little from column B for me - i have a job that's about half and half, and i am a very enthusiastic sitter downerer. I bloody love a sit down. But even with decent hiking boots, with the amount of walking done as standard at glastonbury, and the kind of uneven stony ground found at gates and stewarding areas, its a recipe to have bloody knackered feet at the end of each shift.

Some volunteers - and i'm aligning myself very much with Stuie here - are perhaps a little more naive and inexperienced in these matters and expect to have a really easy eight hours spent having a nice chat with people, and are put out by having sore feet.

'But my feet hurt! how can i stand up and do the duties i'm completely aware of and have been trained and informed to undertake?' well . . . 

[Jay Pee]

5 minutes ago, Aragorn said:

 

I too did recycling Crew this year for the first time.  I was post festival shifts, was pretty hard work and I racked up around 250,000 steps over 7/8 days.  The Tuesday-Thursday shifts are 8am to 5pm and are hard work.  You basically go around every single camping field clearing the litter.  We did 8 campsites in record time this year apparently so they sent us out to the car parks Thursday  

I was pretty knackered by Thursday and consider myself reasonably fit.  The camaraderie was good and I met some great people.  I will be applying again next year but will ask for in festival shifts I think as 10/11 days from getting there the Monday before the festival was a tough gig. 

We were on the same gig.  It was hard work and I am relatively fit for my age.  That Thursday dragged as we were effectively looking for work that was already mostly cracked.

As I feared, my biggest challenge was driving home to the NW after shift on Thursday evening.  Nearly nodded off on the M5 and M6 so made the call to have a rest and then drove the last 80 miles across country to keep awake.

[Johnnyseven]

1 hour ago, This_Fields_Good said:

I was in the same boat with WaterAid... which presumably is why they politely declined my offer to help polish the Long Drops, etc. !

I spoke to a few WaterAid/Loo Crew people, and the word "gross" was common, but the hard labour sounds to be less that with Recycling Crew.

Yeah I wouldn't be too keen on cleaning the bogs, but filling people's water bottles up for them is another story - that looks like luxury. 

50 minutes ago, Dejalves said:

 

Other small criticisms:

- They should be way more lenient about sitting down on shift, 8 hours on your feet is silly and unhealthy.

- They should stop banging on about tea and coffee on shift as if it's guaranteed. 

- Feel bad because they were lovely and seemed to be having a tough time but the Oxfield food wasnt it, very stingy portions

Pros (other than it being cheaper) were loos/showers were decent, loved the crew bars and loved seeing the site on Mon/Tues

Don't think I will bother volunteering again, although I'm sure it will all look tempting should I fail to get a ticket in general sale...

I was working on VG5, the tea van turned up and was gone before I had been able to finish what I was doing. As we're there to work they should at least check if all staff want a drink before they bugger off.

Concur with the stingy food portions. The one main meal I had was macaroni cheese, they gave me more chips than they did macaroni and it was all a paltry portion. They billed it as cheaper than the festival, but you can half as much. With the breakfast on one of the days they didn't have a number of the items, they wouldn't supplement with something else though despite having loads.

41 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

I broadly agree with everything else you say, but have to counter on this one - you're a steward, its one of the majorly visible roles and first contact with the festival proper a lot of people have every day, i dont want to sound like a boring company man but its really not much to ask for people to be stood up and at least vaguely engaging with the role. There's barely a position where sitting is even vaguely appropriate. We had a couple of people on our second shift who nigh on demanded a seated role, and then sat around with faces like wet weekends moaning about basically everything, skipped off without being relieved at the end of their shift full of beans, and then didnt turn up for their last one. Dicks. 

It goes quicker if you get stuck in, stay on your feet, engage positively, and just get into the role instead of moaning. (and I'm not suggesting you were one of the moaning types btw! i'm more whingeing at the people who skipped out on my shift!)  

It seemed to be fine for the Oxfield gate people and shower ticket collectors to sit down for the whole shift though. Some of them were quite happily smoking a fag while on duty too, something we were told was a no-no. If there's rules for stewards outside the Oxfield why aren't all stewards expected to do the same, RA excepted.

[balti-pie]

1 minute ago, Johnnyseven said:

 

It seemed to be fine for the Oxfield gate people and shower ticket collectors to sit down for the whole shift though. Some of them were quite happily smoking a fag while on duty too, something we were told was a no-no. If there's rules for stewards outside the Oxfield why aren't all stewards expected to do the same, RA excepted.

Yeah, that isn't great, i'm very much with you there. The shower token collectors looked to be particularly incompetent - id have thought a one in/one out policy would be self policing and he could then sit there and do nothing (as he seemed to do anyways) and instead he'd not let people in for ages, and then go check the stalls and let five of us in at a time. he was complaining of a terrible hangover but ill be honest, i dont care about your hangover mate, id just like a shower, stop titting around! 

[Johnnyseven]

28 minutes ago, Jay Pee said:

Give me a pm nearer the time when applications are opening for Wateraid next year and I may be able to help.  Have been with Wateraid for a few years now and you would likely get Loo Crew as first stint but it is not that bad (honestly).

I cant compare other volunteering as I have only done it with them but the shifts are generally in daylight hours and in amongst the festival areas.  There are not many volunteering roles at all in the dark hours meaning the body clock can retain some level of stability.  Apart from the 6am start and one is still in the SE corner at 4am (your honour)

My mate did the loo crew, i'm not that squeamish about poo so would probably be ok. He did 4 x 6 hour shifts but described his shift as this:

Turn up at Wateraid field to sign in - took an hour.

Walk to lock up to get gear - another 30 mins.

Do circuit of loos they were assigned to clean - took 3 hours.

Walk back to Wateraid field to sign out - half an hour.

Seems a better deal than Oxfam to me, most of the shift is taken up with signing in and walking plus they get to sign off early as long as their loos are clean.

[clarkete]

29 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Yeah, that isn't great, i'm very much with you there. The shower token collectors looked to be particularly incompetent - id have thought a one in/one out policy would be self policing and he could then sit there and do nothing (as he seemed to do anyways) and instead he'd not let people in for ages, and then go check the stalls and let five of us in at a time. he was complaining of a terrible hangover but ill be honest, i dont care about your hangover mate, id just like a shower, stop titting around! 

Did you offer any constructive criticism? 

I hope so

[dondo]

59 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Would love to see a few full reports from non-oxfam volunteers - where they camp, the pros and cons, shift allocations, when they can arrive, etc etc. Ive done three years with oxfam and enjoy it, and am very happy to continue, but wouldnt mind trying someone else if it were a bit easier on the feet 😄

Here's my report on my 8th time as a volunteer on the recycling crew but 1st time on the tractor loading, working 0615 to 1215 Friday through Monday.

Arrived on site Monday AM and was set up pretty quickly- obvious that a fair few folk had arrived on the Sunday as Tom's field was quite full. 

Friday was my 1st shift so was up at 0530 for a 0615 start.  Not too far to walk from Tom's Field to the recycling centre where we signed on.  You have to work in 3's so I paired up with a couple from Morecambe who were lovely.  Basically you line up and wait for a tractor to pull round- the 3 of you hop on the back and then go to a specific area of the festival to pick up the bags the litter pickers or others have filled.  Once the trailer is full you go up to the recycling centre where you get dropped off whilst the trailer is emptied- normally time to grab a quick cuppa before hopping back on and heading back out.  As with the rest of the shifts when I finished went back to Tom's Filed for a shower, lunch (as others have said you get 2 meal tokens per shift) and often a power nap.

So overall I really enjoyed volunteering this year and the tractor crew- it's quite cool travelling around and watching the festival from that higher vantage point.  That said it can be quite bumpy and I did end up with a couple of bruises from bashing against the trailer side.  I would definitely be happy with that role again.  So for me the pros are:

• Camping inside the fence which is quiet- you can obviously hear the noise from the festival but fellow recycling crew campers are quiet and respectful as they know folk have early starts
• Decent showers (most of the time)
• Food overall was better than previous years 
• Cheap bar
• Exploring site before open to the public

Cons:

• Early starts but I'd rather have that so I don't miss the bands in the afternoon
• Having a shift Monday morning meant I was later in leaving than usual and ended up taking longer to get out including 2 hours stuck in Purple 1
• Whilst food generally was a lot better the queues were bad at times
• Whilst it was great being on site early my 1st shift being Friday seemed ages away and was kind of looming over me if that makes sense!

So will I be applying again next year- definitely.  Whilst it would be nice to go as a normal punter volunteering is an affordable way for me to get to the festival and I enjoy volunteering and the benefits that come with it.

 

[rottencrotch]

1 hour ago, balti-pie said:

Would love to see a few full reports from non-oxfam volunteers - where they camp, the pros and cons, shift allocations, when they can arrive, etc etc. Ive done three years with oxfam and enjoy it, and am very happy to continue, but wouldnt mind trying someone else if it were a bit easier on the feet 😄

Lock Up volunteer - I've been doing every year it's been on since I was 25...and I'm 41 this year. Wild. 

We can get on site from the Sunday, and have the benefit of a short stay car pass made available to us which is an absolute godsend for driving onsite with all your kit. Way back when we camped on Tom's Field, which then moved to Paines. Past two years we've been shifted further out each time and this year it was Rivermead/Pylon. A couple of times we've had shower tokens, but this year it was as many as you liked, with zero queues. The dream! The compost loo's were excellent as well. I think this was due to us being next to security, who had their own showers etc in their compound. 

We used to get meal tickets but these stopped years ago. However one of the peace orgs who also provide a lock up offer a pay in advance meal situation, whereby you pay a daily rate and get breakfast/lunch/dinner. This is based in our wee area only. I didn't use it so can't speak to how good it was, but it looked great!

Shift patterns - we start work on Wednesday, and some unlucky rota's have a Monday AM shift. It's 4 hours at a time and runs as such 8am-12pm, 12-4, 4-8, 8-12 and then one night is an 8 hour nightshift from 12 till 8am.  So you do work every day. Depending where you are, it can be REALLY busy but it makes the shift fly past. You are also looking after peoples valuables, so really need to be on the ball. 

It's a brilliant gig and all donations go towards excellent organisations. Every year I say it's my last....and then I'm booking annual leave a few weeks later. 

[Skip997]

Perhaps not that applicable as it's a "word of mouth" thing.

I volunteer for Green Traffic, but in a specific role - Dragon Field gate - a campsite/camper van field for Green Fields crew.

I can arrive whenever I want (early vehicle pass) and leave when I want (within reason).

I don't really have specific shifts, although I'm unique in our team on that level. Non Dragon Field Green Traffic crew do 6 x 4 hour shifts, which can be pre/post/or during the event. Am not sure how many hours the rest of our crew have to do (we just have to make sure all hours are covered), but I remember when I was offered the job It was pitched as "you'll do more hours, but no work during the event". This year my last shift was Thursday afternoon.

We get to camp/park up in the Dragon Field and feed ourselves (budget provided). There are compost loos in our field. We either use the showers in Undle Ground or crew showers near The Common.

Really not that difficult or tiring and becoming easier by the year.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Skip997

[Crazyfool01]

57 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Little from column A, little from column B for me - i have a job that's about half and half, and i am a very enthusiastic sitter downerer. I bloody love a sit down. But even with decent hiking boots, with the amount of walking done as standard at glastonbury, and the kind of uneven stony ground found at gates and stewarding areas, its a recipe to have bloody knackered feet at the end of each shift.

Some volunteers - and i'm aligning myself very much with Stuie here - are perhaps a little more naive and inexperienced in these matters and expect to have a really easy eight hours spent having a nice chat with people, and are put out by having sore feet.

'But my feet hurt! how can i stand up and do the duties i'm completely aware of and have been trained and informed to undertake?' well . . . 

I guess they'd likely be yomping around the site on said pair of feet if they weren't at  work  anyway .... the time I struggle is mostly when I cant shift my feet in tighter headline situations 

[Johnnyseven]

1 hour ago, Johnnyseven said:

Concur with the stingy food portions. The one main meal I had was macaroni cheese, they gave me more chips than they did macaroni and it was all a paltry portion. They billed it as cheaper than the festival, but you can half as much. With the breakfast on one of the days they didn't have a number of the items, they wouldn't supplement with something else though despite having loads.

Also, my first shift was Weds at 05:45 at VG5. Oxfield food opening times were advertised as from 5am on show days, I got up and went for breakfast to find they didn't open until 6 or something. So no brekkie for me before my first shift, didn't even bother looking on site for food on my way to shift as, being no punters were on site yet, I figured i'd be unlikely to find anything open. So had to last until my break for some food, which I then spent half of in a queue to get something to eat.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Johnnyseven

[TheBoz]

38 minutes ago, rottencrotch said:

Lock Up volunteer - I've been doing every year it's been on since I was 25...and I'm 41 this year. Wild. 

We can get on site from the Sunday, and have the benefit of a short stay car pass made available to us which is an absolute godsend for driving onsite with all your kit. Way back when we camped on Tom's Field, which then moved to Paines. Past two years we've been shifted further out each time and this year it was Rivermead/Pylon. A couple of times we've had shower tokens, but this year it was as many as you liked, with zero queues. The dream! The compost loo's were excellent as well. I think this was due to us being next to security, who had their own showers etc in their compound. 

We used to get meal tickets but these stopped years ago. However one of the peace orgs who also provide a lock up offer a pay in advance meal situation, whereby you pay a daily rate and get breakfast/lunch/dinner. This is based in our wee area only. I didn't use it so can't speak to how good it was, but it looked great!

Shift patterns - we start work on Wednesday, and some unlucky rota's have a Monday AM shift. It's 4 hours at a time and runs as such 8am-12pm, 12-4, 4-8, 8-12 and then one night is an 8 hour nightshift from 12 till 8am.  So you do work every day. Depending where you are, it can be REALLY busy but it makes the shift fly past. You are also looking after peoples valuables, so really need to be on the ball. 

It's a brilliant gig and all donations go towards excellent organisations. Every year I say it's my last....and then I'm booking annual leave a few weeks later. 

I've always been curious about the lock-ups and would be keen to volunteer if I didn't get a ticket in the autumn.

Am I right in saying a lot of different charities run them? Do you volunteer with them all year or just apply to help out at the festival? How did you first get into volunteering with them?

Happy for a DM if you don't want to reply on here! Cheers!

[franks]

So interesting to read everyone's debrief!! 

I managed to get in with Oxfam very last minute so I was so grateful to be there. I'd stewarded with them in 2015 so knew roughly what to expect, but I'd had incredible shifts (Gate A Wed 2pm-10pm, Gate B Thurs 6am-2pm, Gate B Fri 10pm-6am) so was expecting something a little tougher this time.

Got there Tuesday afternoon which is probably my biggest regret, I'd offered someone a lift but they couldn't get there til much later so we didn't arrive until about 5pm, which meant our briefing was at 9pm! Fortunately I knew people in the Oxfield who were able to save a space for my tent. Ended up with C shifts (Weds 10pm-6am, Fri 2pm-10pm and Sun 6am-2pm) which I was happy with - free for Elton and Lizzo. The worst thing was that it was all at Gate D so had a lot more commuting time compared to my previous stint. Had a great group of people though, including really good supervisors and a great Team Lead who was really experienced and wanted to ensure we were safe and comfortable on shift - he let us have 15 minute breaks in the shade on the Friday shift on top of our actual break and the supervisors would regularly go and get water for us all. Also made sure everyone was signed out well before shifts ended.

One of the worst things was the handover to the following shift - the briefings from the incoming team lead took forever! It was like he took each steward personally to where they needed to be and explained each role individually. Not ideal when we'd been so efficient at relieving the shift before us, especially after the night shift and I just wanted to get some sleep before it got too hot. Our Team Lead actually apologised on the next shift because we were relieved after our shift had technically finished.

Fortunately we didn't have too many complainers on shift and throwing yourself into it really helps the time pass - I got really into being a human megaphone on Sunday morning. One thing I did notice (definitely don't want to start anything here) but as the stereotype for someone who might not be prepared for the work (woman under 35) there were definitely a few older blokes who were just sort of stood around wanting to have a chat even when it was busy? I get it's harder when you don't have a specific job and you're just meat on the gate, but when Sunday morning started getting really busy with people going out to their cars I found myself having to organise them a bit as it was like they were waiting to be told what to do. 

Overall I had an amazing time and I'm SO grateful I was able to get in I can't really complain. But it was tiring this year and I definitely didn't do the same level of exploration I normally do as a ticket holder. I had friends with tickets who I went to see when I wasn't working but I did miss out on the usual rituals our group has.

Still weighing up whether I want to do another festival with Oxfam to get priority. The showers and quieter campsite were so welcome this year but I think I'd still prefer to have a ticket. But who knows, maybe I'll be back on this thread next year hunting for another Oxfam space! Going and volunteering is definitely better than not going.

[Dejalves]

1 hour ago, Crazyfool01 said:

is the standing that hard or is it because people come to the role from office based jobs which make the change more physically demanding on the feet ?

 

1 hour ago, balti-pie said:

Little from column A, little from column B for me

3*8 hours standing on top of all the trekking across site is probably more exercise than 95% of volunteers do in daily life. No doubt some are a bit lazy or naive but even as a active young-ish person, my lower back was suffering by Saturday, I'd rather walk for 8 hrs than stand. 

My gate wasn't super hectic. Even on Weds, after the initial rush plenty of 10+ min gaps with no movement. Might not work for the major gates but I don't see the harm in softening the language a bit.

Might be naive from me but I feel most volunteers/supervisors are smart enough to use their discretion and not take the piss i.e. sit if it's dead, stand if it's busy

[Dejalves]

10 minutes ago, franks said:

Overall I had an amazing time and I'm SO grateful I was able to get in I can't really complain. But it was tiring this year and I definitely didn't do the same level of exploration I normally do as a ticket holder. I had friends with tickets who I went to see when I wasn't working but I did miss out on the usual rituals our group has.

Feel the same. Working makes you much more pressured for time and a bit knackered so wasn't able to just wander and discover new bands or even hang around the campsite with friends doing nothing which are two big festival perks for me. 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Dejalves

[rottencrotch]

12 minutes ago, TheBoz said:

I've always been curious about the lock-ups and would be keen to volunteer if I didn't get a ticket in the autumn.

Am I right in saying a lot of different charities run them? Do you volunteer with them all year or just apply to help out at the festival? How did you first get into volunteering with them?

Happy for a DM if you don't want to reply on here! Cheers!

No worries at all - happy to share. 

They are ran by various different charities from across England/Wales. I volunteer for one of the CND's, and I think the others are Brighton Peace, and Friends of the Earth. 

I got on the crew through a friend being invited and taking me as her plus one. We were both based in Glasgow although she'd lived in Manchester for years previously, and it was one of her pals who worked with Manchester CND who asked if she was free and said she could take a pal. 16 years later and I'm still doing it (she attended a few, but had kids so stopped volunteering). So in my specific case it was really just down to luck and an invite. Now that I've been there a while, it's a lot of the same faces each year although there are often new people who I'd imagine are given spaces as they work/volunteer with the specific groups on each lock up. Essentially (probably like a lot of Glastonbury) it's a mix of who you know, and what you do. 

By getting involved with the charities you exponentially increase your chances of supporting their work at Glastonbury. I don't do much outwith of Glasto; pay my membership dues and keep in touch with the crew!