Volunteering 2023

[MichaelsBeard]

No email here… no news is good news 🤞

[lazymagnet]

I wonder if they will be sending more emails out tomorrow or if they will have tried to get them all out today? I haven’t had one yet but can’t stop refreshing my emails…

[MichaelsBeard]

3 minutes ago, lazymagnet said:

I wonder if they will be sending more emails out tomorrow or if they will have tried to get them all out today? I haven’t had one yet but can’t stop refreshing my emails…

Snap. I would think / hope they would send them out all before close of business.

[MrZigster]

5 hours ago, dogeggs said:

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

5 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

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

Same thing happened in 2020 for volunteers with Shelter. So that's two festivals in a row they have managed to make the same error.

(edit: I think. Did places rollover or did 2020 volunteers get their cash back and they started again for 2022?)

4 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

have they completely shelved the Londonn buses ?

 

4 hours 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. 

4 hours 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,

 

That's the explanation from last year isn't it, rather than info for this year?

I know Shelter are a charity etc. etc., but hopefully they will be back to normal this year, costs permitting.

I think it's a bit of a kick in the teeth for some people who've been volunteering for years to suddenly have to find ways of being in Bristol for the morning. If there can be only one spot, surely London is easier to do for most people? (Yes, obviously more fuel costs for the coaches etc.).

Or just let people make their own way there maybe? I know it messes up their "hand out tickets on the coach" system, and it's not as green, but they managed to make an exception for the train strikes last year, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility. Would obviously save Shelter/Avalon the cost as well.

4 hours 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. 

1 hour ago, Sawman said:

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 

@Ayrshire ChrisI said the same thing in 2020. I've not seen any indication that this happened this time for those poor souls (may have been 2022 see edit above).

@SawmanAs mentioned those 2022 places were were originally snatched up in 2020 (I think see edit above).

Really feeling for the people who thought they were in. Soul destroying stuff.

Someone from the festival needs to have a word with Shelter now they've managed to cock this up twice in a row (if the festival are even aware of it).

[The Other Steve]

18 hours ago, stuie said:

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

Why is that?  Do more Oxfam places become available?  I refresh the page around 100 times a day so hoping I'll get lucky.

[faymondo]

44 minutes ago, The Other Steve said:

Why is that?  Do more Oxfam places become available?  I refresh the page around 100 times a day so hoping I'll get lucky.

Yep they do (Cancelations) Even more so after the resale. I know somebody who got a spot a few days before the start of the festival least year. 

Im refreshing as well. Only change so far is the odd Isle Of Wight return has popped up. 

[Greenelk]

1 hour ago, faymondo said:

Yep they do (Cancelations) Even more so after the resale. I know somebody who got a spot a few days before the start of the festival least year. 

Im refreshing as well. Only change so far is the odd Isle Of Wight return has popped up. 

Quite a lot of the other festivals have become available on and off, but it seems to have quietened down quite a bit now. 

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Greenelk

[Crazyfool01]

Always thought oxfam provided the largest number of staff so it makes sense that they will be the ones with the largest returns in the end 

[stuie]

18 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Always thought oxfam provided the largest number of staff so it makes sense that they will be the ones with the largest returns in the end 

Yes, after the resale there will no doubt be a number of places available.  It's not the first choice for everyone!

[chestwig]

5 hours ago, stuie said:

Yes, after the resale there will no doubt be a number of places available.  It's not the first choice for everyone!

I missed out applying for Oxfam. Does anybody know when they will reopen applications?

 

And is it not possible to submit them a provisional application in case spaces become available?

[Leyrulion]

5 minutes ago, chestwig said:

I missed out applying for Oxfam. Does anybody know when they will reopen applications?

 

And is it not possible to submit them a provisional application in case spaces become available?

No, you've got to just watch the website and jump as and when places come up.

[Havors]

On 2/24/2023 at 6:18 PM, chestwig said:

I missed out applying for Oxfam. Does anybody know when they will reopen applications?

 

And is it not possible to submit them a provisional application in case spaces become available?

For stewards it's not really an application. You just pay and book your slot like you're buying a ticket. 

My guess is there will be a bunch of slots added after the ticket resale in April. Last year people were getting places right up until the weekend before the festival. You just have to keep checking. 

[chestwig]

14 hours ago, Havors said:

For stewards it's not really an application. You just pay and book your slot like you're buying a ticket. 

My guess is there will be a bunch of slots added after the ticket resale in April. Last year people were getting places right up until the weekend before the festival. You just have to keep checking. 

Great advice. I never new... I expected they might wait for lots of cancellations and then release a load as a bulk. But from what you are saying it sounds like a space goes back into the hat whenever anybody cancels their volunteering spot.

[incident]

13 minutes ago, chestwig said:

Great advice. I never new... I expected they might wait for lots of cancellations and then release a load as a bulk. But from what you are saying it sounds like a space goes back into the hat whenever anybody cancels their volunteering spot.

Broadly speaking yes - but it's not necessarily instant or 1:1, so don't expect a direct correlation with someone posting on here "I've just cancelled my place" and then a spot appearing on the site straight away.

[Havors]

2 minutes ago, incident said:

Broadly speaking yes - but it's not necessarily instant or 1:1, so don't expect a direct correlation with someone posting on here "I've just cancelled my place" and then a spot appearing on the site straight away.

Correct. Last year they actually did a "resale" of their own. They saved up a bunch of cancelled spots and released them all at once. I have a feeling they will do the same thing following the real ticket resale.

[stuie]

2 minutes ago, Havors said:

Correct. Last year they actually did a "resale" of their own. They saved up a bunch of cancelled spots and released them all at once. I have a feeling they will do the same thing following the real ticket resale.

I might be wrong but I thought that was a result of Glasto ordering more stewards?

[Havors]

34 minutes ago, stuie said:

I might be wrong but I thought that was a result of Glasto ordering more stewards?

Possibly you could be right. Im sure they had said long before they opened the places up again there was more places though. I recall being aware of it way before but could be imagining that. 

It probably wasnt a coincidence they opened up all the places at once after the ticket resale either. It aligned with the resale and the deadline for cancelling your oxfam place and losing all your deposit 🙂

[amfy]

On 2/23/2023 at 10:31 PM, MrZigster said:

I think it's a bit of a kick in the teeth for some people who've been volunteering for years to suddenly have to find ways of being in Bristol for the morning. If there can be only one spot, surely London is easier to do for most people? (Yes, obviously more fuel costs for the coaches etc.).

Edited February 27, 2023 by amfy
To try and sort out the quote but failing.

[amfy]

Bristol is far nearer to Glastonbury than London and most people will have to travel in the general direction of Bristol to get to Glastonbury anyway, but imagine the frustration of living in the south west and having to get to London for a pick up?

Fares to London are also the most expensive from most of the country.

if there’s only one pick up point then it does make sense for it to be Bristol.

However, they need plenty of pick up times going into late afternoon/early evening to enable as many people as possible to get to Bristol on the day and avoid having to pay out for a stopover.

[stuie]

2 minutes ago, amfy said:

Bristol is far nearer to Glastonbury than London and most people will have to travel in the general direction of Bristol to get to Glastonbury anyway, but imagine the frustration of living in the south west and having to get to London for a pick up?

Fares to London are also the most expensive from most of the country.

if there’s only one pick up point then it does make sense for it to be Bristol.

However, they need plenty of pick up times going into late afternoon/early evening to enable as many people as possible to get to Bristol on the day and avoid having to pay out for a stopover.

I don’t understand why Oxfam people can make their own way there but Shelter people can’t! 

[Leyrulion]

3 minutes ago, stuie said:

I don’t understand why Oxfam people can make their own way there but Shelter people can’t! 

Campsites and car park admin maybe? 

Are shelter even an official volunteer partner with Glastonbury or are they sub contracted by Avalon bars? That might give them less clout to negotiate on parking space and they're stuck with working within what Avalon can give them?

[amfy]

3 minutes ago, stuie said:

I don’t understand why Oxfam people can make their own way there but Shelter people can’t! 

Nor me really. Somehow you just can’t get checked in unaccompanied with Shelter. You arrive on the coach, park up and people come onto the coach to put your wristbands on. I remember having to walk a fair way after getting dropped off by the coach as well.
 

They just don’t seem to have any parking whereas the Oxfield has parking in the next field. You can also only camp with Shelter but you can take a live in vehicle with Oxfam.

[Leyrulion]

For people that have volunteered before-

You don't get shifts until you arrive so what's your approach to looking at the line up?

How much do you plan ahead knowing you may well miss out on a shed load.

[tarw]

14 minutes ago, stuie said:

I don’t understand why Oxfam people can make their own way there but Shelter people can’t! 

I think it could be to do with the fact that Oxfam are off site so that they can do everyone’s accreditation and wristbanded there. With Shelter being on-site they can’t do this

[Skip997]

11 minutes ago, amfy said:

 You can also only camp with Shelter but you can take a live in vehicle with Oxfam.

Was wondering this, thanks.