Volunteering 2023

[lemons]

4 hours ago, lemons said:

Never had a sniff of a ticket before and quite like fest bar work so... 🥲

Well bollocks 

[Crazyfool01]

50 minutes ago, dogeggs said:

I'm guessing a fair few on here have previous with Shelter. I know all the info will be forthcoming soon, but can anyone shed any light on the whole Bristol shuttle part of things?

Is this all happening on the Tuesday? Are you given a fixed bus time or is it a free-for all? There must be a few hundred volunteers to organise transporting on-site so I've no idea how it's been handled historically.

On top of that, wifey and I are moving from the East Midlands to the South West in the next week or two, so will soon be trying to figure out best method and time to get ourselves to Bristol from Helston way.  

Might be a hotel needed 

[stuie]

4 minutes ago, dogeggs said:

Just had an email saying the Shelter tickets are cancelled due to a technical error, so I'll hold fire on booking the hotel.

 

Bugger.

Ah wow that's awful. 

Rest assured you'll be able to get an Oxfam space if all else fails though. 

[dogeggs]

Just now, Crazyfool01 said:

Might be a hotel needed 

Might be a ticket needed too. I'm just having the worst luck this year.

[Crazyfool01]

Just now, dogeggs said:

Might be a ticket needed too. I'm just having the worst luck this year.

Oh ffs just saw 😞 

[lemons]

Anyone else tell friends they were going and feel like a right tit now 😊

[Suzeg]

9 minutes ago, dogeggs said:

Just had an email saying the Shelter tickets are cancelled due to a technical error, so I'll hold fire on booking the hotel.

 

Bugger.

Me too 😉

[dogeggs]

3 minutes ago, lemons said:

Anyone else tell friends they were going and feel like a right tit now 😊

Well at least we had something to all feel cheery about, even if it only lasted a few hours.

 

[Crazyfool01]

utterly ridiculous tbh .... thats really poor from shelter 

[waltere]

28 minutes ago, 4519dennis said:

We left about midday last year and what was painful was being stuck for 3 to 4 hours on the festival site in a traffic jam so getting back took about 6 hours!

There's quite a strong possibility we were on the same coach 😅

[4519dennis]

7 minutes ago, waltere said:

There's quite a strong possibility we were on the same coach 😅

I think this time we try and catch a much earlier coach?

[waltere]

1 minute ago, 4519dennis said:

I think this time we try and catch a much earlier coach?

Been saying this for a few years tbf, but never end up wanting to cut that Sunday night short in the way that would be necessary to ensure it

[Crazyfool01]

5 minutes ago, waltere said:

There's quite a strong possibility we were on the same coach 😅

have they completely shelved the Londonn buses ?

 

[4519dennis]

6 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

have they completely shelved the Londonn buses ?

 

I think Avalon are responsible for laying on the coaches and the latest Shelter FAQ simply states that travel will be from Bristol. Last year I thought there was some justification provided by Shelter (or Avalon) for Bristol but I got the impression it would all be reviewed. 

[4519dennis]

5 minutes ago, 4519dennis said:

I think Avalon are responsible for laying on the coaches and the latest Shelter FAQ simply states that travel will be from Bristol. Last year I thought there was some justification provided by Shelter (or Avalon) for Bristol but I got the impression it would all be reviewed. 

Here we go:

Dear Glastonbury volunteer, 

We hope you’re well and looking forward to the festival as much as we are. 

We wanted to get in touch and respond to some of the questions and queries we have received following Avalon’s email to you on Friday, specifically regarding transport. 

We know it will come as a disappointment that Avalon aren’t providing a wider range of coach pick up points this year. In previous years, Avalon have been able to run coaches to and from London and Sheffield, in addition to Bristol. Unfortunately this year, after the loss of a huge number of coach companies during the pandemic, and over 100% rise in prices caused by driver shortages, combined with the exponential rise in inflation and fuel prices we have not been able to provide coaches from London and Sheffield.  

Please know that Avalon spent a considerable amount of time trying to find a solution to this, but the only solution after weeks of negotiations with coach companies has been to move the pick-up point for all volunteers to Bristol.

After two seasons away, the event industry has come back to a very different landscape. Suppliers we've worked with for years have sadly gone out of business, many people have left the industry causing a considerable skills drain and production and logistics are more expensive and more in demand than ever as events producers clamour to book services and equipment from a greatly reduced number of suppliers. As the industry and related industries find their feet again, we are having to work under much more difficult conditions than we have ever experienced and finding ways of working around problems we have not encountered before. We’re really hopeful that next year we may be able to run coaches from their original locations again, and we’ll do everything we can to try and make that a reality, but for this year we’re hoping that everyone can understand that we really have tried our best to keep the old locations. The decision to change to Bristol was not taken lightly, and with a heavy heart we had to accept it was just not possible. 

Please do not hesitate to get in contact if you have any further questions. 

Kind regards,

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by 4519dennis

[Ayrshire Chris]

49 minutes ago, dogeggs said:

Just had an email saying the Shelter tickets are cancelled due to a technical error, so I'll hold fire on booking the hotel.

 

Bugger.

That’s terrible, they should at least promise you a priority place for next year if you don’t get a drop out place this year. 

[Crazyfool01]

7 minutes ago, 4519dennis said:

Here we go:

Dear Glastonbury volunteer, 

We hope you’re well and looking forward to the festival as much as we are. 

We wanted to get in touch and respond to some of the questions and queries we have received following Avalon’s email to you on Friday, specifically regarding transport. 

We know it will come as a disappointment that Avalon aren’t providing a wider range of coach pick up points this year. In previous years, Avalon have been able to run coaches to and from London and Sheffield, in addition to Bristol. Unfortunately this year, after the loss of a huge number of coach companies during the pandemic, and over 100% rise in prices caused by driver shortages, combined with the exponential rise in inflation and fuel prices we have not been able to provide coaches from London and Sheffield.  

Please know that Avalon spent a considerable amount of time trying to find a solution to this, but the only solution after weeks of negotiations with coach companies has been to move the pick-up point for all volunteers to Bristol.

After two seasons away, the event industry has come back to a very different landscape. Suppliers we've worked with for years have sadly gone out of business, many people have left the industry causing a considerable skills drain and production and logistics are more expensive and more in demand than ever as events producers clamour to book services and equipment from a greatly reduced number of suppliers. As the industry and related industries find their feet again, we are having to work under much more difficult conditions than we have ever experienced and finding ways of working around problems we have not encountered before. We’re really hopeful that next year we may be able to run coaches from their original locations again, and we’ll do everything we can to try and make that a reality, but for this year we’re hoping that everyone can understand that we really have tried our best to keep the old locations. The decision to change to Bristol was not taken lightly, and with a heavy heart we had to accept it was just not possible. 

Please do not hesitate to get in contact if you have any further questions. 

Kind regards,

 

yeah I remember it was all very last minute , hopefully they can reinstate some of those 

[dogeggs]

5 minutes ago, Ayrshire Chris said:

That’s terrible, they should at least promise you a priority place for next year if you don’t get a drop out place this year. 

Maybe, I sent a brief reply just to acknowledge their email and confirm we're obviously gutted to have been cut from their list.

Their response appears to be mostly about having zero tolerance for hate speech - so not sure what happened there but sounds unlikely we'll be offered any form of priority on anything. 

[Crazyfool01]

they do seem the most how can I put this politely ..... disorganised bunch out there 

[NiceManB]

I am another one to have got that dreaded email, what a rollercoaster of emotions today after thinking it was in the bag. I have emailed in response asking whether people who’s deposits were taken will be prioritised over the others who applied and didn’t bother to take up the chance to attempt to grab a place, as a few friends who didn’t bother have also been told that they’re on the waitlist..

[Leyrulion]

59 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

utterly ridiculous tbh .... thats really poor from shelter 

Shocking is beyond it. Whoever's in charge is really not prioritising the volunteer experience. 

The rumour is Oxfam had something similar(but unrelated) with the system taking payments when places may have been full. But we think they're just waiting for the usual drop outs to take them out of being oversubscribed. 

You'd think Shelter would do the same!

 

As an aside I sent them an email when they sent 6 consecutive emails saying the same thing and they removed me from the mailing list entirely! Thankfully I was only signed up to see what the process was like and update the spreadsheet. 

 

[MichaelsBeard]

Dreading potentially getting this email now. That’s the difference in time between the link dropping and me getting confirmation tho. Surely that’s fine? 
 

 

[lemons]

1 minute ago, MichaelsBeard said:

Dreading potentially getting this email now. That’s the difference in time between the link dropping and me getting confirmation tho. Surely that’s fine? 
 

 

I also got a confirmation at 11.04 but got apology email this afternoon. Maybe no communication so far is good news though...

[MichaelsBeard]

3 minutes ago, lemons said:

I also got a confirmation at 11.04 but got apology email this afternoon. Maybe no communication so far is good news though...

What a rollercoaster this year is turning into!

 

*Edit - what time did you get your email saying they’d messed up? 

Edited February 23, 2023 by MichaelsBeard

[Sawman]

You would have thought Shelter would have learnt the lessons from 2022 when exactly the same thing happened. Really poor to be honest. Stick on in there though as this happened last year to my wife when I had a place (she initially had a place and paid her deposit then had the email later on saying it was a mistake). She went on a waiting list and got a place eventually so all good …. Eventually