Volunteering 2023

[Paul ™]

Mycause also have the paid staff arm called Ehtical Staffing. 

So full time staff, some of those who 'work' for both entities.

Personally I think £15 is way too low! 

[philipsteak]

2 hours ago, tarw said:

Anyone volunteered with https://mycauseuk.com/volunteer/ before?

Thinking of volunteering at Shambala and it’s them or Oxfam. Good that you get to choose which charity you want to support but a £15 donation to them for 3 x 8 hour shifts seems low to me. 
 

Ever heard of them @Skip997

Just echoing what everyone else has said but they're fine. Never volunteered for them myself but friends have (only at day events in London though I think) and they treat the volunteers well. Those roles are pretty good by the sound of it. Few hours early on on a gate or directing from public transport, then the bulk of the show off.

The guy who set it up (Rob?) used to be quite senior in Oxfam stewarding. I think primarily still a volunteer but did do some paid work too possibly. Knew him to say hello to but didn't really know him. Nice guy I know he worked for some of the security firms too cos used to see him and chat when he was doing that.

[philipsteak]

Just seen they are at Bearded Theory this year. Pretty sure that's a first unless I've just not spotted them before.

[Paul ™]

34 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

Just seen they are at Bearded Theory this year. Pretty sure that's a first unless I've just not spotted them before.

Yes first time, I am unsure what they are doing there at the moment 

[amfy]

5 hours ago, Lugs said:

Hi all,

Would just like to start by saying thank you to everyone who has chipped in with their wisdom and knowledge on this thread and many others - I've been using the site since I started going in 2017, but this is my first post!

I was unsuccessful in the main sales this year, so opted to volunteer, alongside a few friends, for Shelter. My friends all received the email of doom saying that there had been a 'technical error' and as such were robbed of their places. I, fortunately, never received said email, so I've still got my spot working behind the bars.

I know that the refund deadline for the volunteering deposit was March 29th, but what are the chances of being able to get even a partial refund, should one be successful on the resale? Is it a strict deadline?

My next question is aimed at the rulebreakers here... has anyone dodged a shift or done a runner once in the festival? If so, what were the repercussions (if any) and did it put you off going back to the Avalon for the remainder of the festival? (I'm not planning on doing this - I feel very fortunate to have a place on the team - it's more out of curiosity).

And lastly, following on from the second question, those who have been working and someone hasn't shown up for their shift, how was that? And was there then a witch-hunt for the fugitive?

As mentioned above, not looking to dodge shifts, just curious as I've not seen it mentioned in here!!

Thanks  

That’s a lot of questions about dodging shifts for someone who isn’t planning to dodge shifts.

The bit about ‘going back to the Avalon’ is a bit unclear to me. Do you mean the Shelter campsite or the Avalon area of Glastonbury? Avalon bars aren’t linked to the Avalon area of Glastonbury, in fact, that area is more WBC. shelter/Avalon bars run bars right across the site - Glade, Stonebridge, Acoustic etc…

Your wristband will have a QR code on it which will be cancelled as soon as you miss a shift so you won’t be able to go back to the campsite and/or get back into the festival. Other than that, I don’t think people get ‘hunted down’ but you lose your deposit and are banned by ALL of the volunteering organisations for future years.

When people dodge shifts it really does make it harder in everyone else. Especially if a group who were placed together go walkabout as that can leave a bar really short staffed while they work out which other bar they might be able to pull staff from. 

Shelter shifts are hard work (as all of the volunteering is). The bars can be quite chaotic which makes it harder, but you are in amongst the festival and there’s a good team spirit which keeps you going. I’d recommend it.

[oakdown]

2 hours ago, amfy said:

Other than that, I don’t think people get ‘hunted down’ but you lose your deposit and are banned by ALL of the volunteering organisations for future years.

They may not be actively hunting every volunteer that deserts, but pictures are circulated and shown at pre-shift briefings for security in my experience. Seen a few get caught at other fests whilst just wandering about after someone on my team spotted them.

[incident]

1 minute ago, oakdown said:

They may not be actively hunting every volunteer that deserts, but pictures are circulated and shown at pre-shift briefings for security in my experience. Seen a few get caught at other fests whilst just wandering about after someone on my team spotted them.

Yep, I can point to first hand knowledge of at least one person getting picked up on the Thursday night at Glastonbury and sent packing.

[balti-pie]

If I was wandering around a festival site and happened upon someone who I knew skipped out on their shifts, I’d pull their wristband off and alert security about them. Don’t knacker up the other people on your shifts, have a bit of team spirit about you ffs! 

[Leyrulion]

4 hours ago, amfy said:

are banned by ALL of the volunteering organisations for future years.

I've been wondering if this is a bit of a hangover from before GDPR, and whether it's still true? To do this they'd have to share your details with other organisations which I'm not entirely sure they could and comply with data protection.

There could be a route where say Oxfam share details about shift skippers with Glastonbury, who then collate and share that information with all the charities. It'd still require collecting and sharing at a minimum name, address and age. Have they really got time to do that? 

[philipsteak]

6 hours ago, Leyrulion said:

I've been wondering if this is a bit of a hangover from before GDPR, and whether it's still true? To do this they'd have to share your details with other organisations which I'm not entirely sure they could and comply with data protection.

There could be a route where say Oxfam share details about shift skippers with Glastonbury, who then collate and share that information with all the charities. It'd still require collecting and sharing at a minimum name, address and age. Have they really got time to do that? 

Unless you agree to your info being shared in the T&Cs when you sign up? Not actually checked.

[philipsteak]

13 hours ago, Paul ™ said:

Yes first time, I am unsure what they are doing there at the moment 

I'm very tempted. Had decided I was only doing Glastonbury this year but now thinking just one isn't enough...

 

[stuie]

7 hours ago, Leyrulion said:

I've been wondering if this is a bit of a hangover from before GDPR, and whether it's still true? To do this they'd have to share your details with other organisations which I'm not entirely sure they could and comply with data protection.

There could be a route where say Oxfam share details about shift skippers with Glastonbury, who then collate and share that information with all the charities. It'd still require collecting and sharing at a minimum name, address and age. Have they really got time to do that? 

It’s always been possible to share PI with other organisations so long as it’s clearly stated in a privacy notice at the point of collection.  It was possible under GDPR and this didn’t change under DPA 2018 so I think it’s still likely that the organisations share the data with Glastonbury.  Oxfam’s 3rd clause below would cover it.

[Leyrulion]

1 hour ago, stuie said:

It’s always been possible to share PI with other organisations so long as it’s clearly stated in a privacy notice at the point of collection.  It was possible under GDPR and this didn’t change under DPA 2018 so I think it’s still likely that the organisations share the data with Glastonbury.  Oxfam’s 3rd clause below would cover it.

Yeah that's what I was thinking, but it's then on Glastonbury to create and share such a list after the festival. I'm wondering if that actually does happen.

[Jay Pee]

1 hour ago, Leyrulion said:

Yeah that's what I was thinking, but it's then on Glastonbury to create and share such a list after the festival. I'm wondering if that actually does happen.

I would do that for them. For nowt 

[stuie]

1 hour ago, Leyrulion said:

Yeah that's what I was thinking, but it's then on Glastonbury to create and share such a list after the festival. I'm wondering if that actually does happen.

I imagine all of the organisations supplying workers have to file some kind of debrief after the festival and this would probably form part of it.  If there isn't such a system in place, it's important that the illusion that there is remains in place! 

 

[incident]

5 minutes ago, stuie said:

I imagine all of the organisations supplying workers have to file some kind of debrief after the festival and this would probably form part of it.  If there isn't such a system in place, it's important that the illusion that there is remains in place!

It's not even after the Festival, it pretty much happens live.

If someone goes AWOL, then the details are passed to GFL immediately, as evictions are (supposed to be) processed in conjunction with the relevant security team.

[stuie]

19 minutes ago, incident said:

It's not even after the Festival, it pretty much happens live.

If someone goes AWOL, then the details are passed to GFL immediately, as evictions are (supposed to be) processed in conjunction with the relevant security team.

That's good to know! 

I met a couple of guys in Oxfam camp at Bestival back in the day that disappeared when gates opened.  Turns out they were actually dealers and used the early entry to bypass security.  Still see them about these days... they run a sandwich stall at various festivals now.

 

[Leyrulion]

2 hours ago, incident said:

It's not even after the Festival, it pretty much happens live.

If someone goes AWOL, then the details are passed to GFL immediately, as evictions are (supposed to be) processed in conjunction with the relevant security team.

I guess that will be the accreditation issue!

Sure I heard someone say they give security guards incentives if they find shift jumpers.

[stuie]

I have to renew my Oxfam training again and I've got the online class booked for 29th.  I've just seen on Facebook that you don't even need a camera or mic for the class. 

Call me old fashioned, but I used to like the London training day, meeting people etc.  Last time a few of us went for lunch and a pint at Elephant & Castle afterwards.  This online broadcast just seems a bit naff and impersonal to be honest.

[Skip997]

2 minutes ago, stuie said:

I have to renew my Oxfam training again and I've got the online class booked for 29th.  I've just seen on Facebook that you don't even need a camera or mic for the class. 

Call me old fashioned, but I used to like the London training day, meeting people etc.  Last time a few of us went for lunch and a pint at Elephant & Castle afterwards.  This online broadcast just seems a bit naff and impersonal to be honest.

Did my steward training last year, so good for another 4 years. TBH I like the online option, saves me having to travel.

[savethatjek]

7 minutes ago, stuie said:

I have to renew my Oxfam training again and I've got the online class booked for 29th.  I've just seen on Facebook that you don't even need a camera or mic for the class. 

Call me old fashioned, but I used to like the London training day, meeting people etc.  Last time a few of us went for lunch and a pint at Elephant & Castle afterwards.  This online broadcast just seems a bit naff and impersonal to be honest.

Got mine tomorrow night, do they sometimes give away any spoilers like the site map changes etc?

[incident]

Just now, savethatjek said:

Got mine tomorrow night, do they sometimes give away any spoilers like the site map changes etc?

Exceptionally unlikely, chances are the people delivering the training won't know any more than is public as it won't be the same that are people doing the planning and probably not even in close contact.

[stuie]

6 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Did my steward training last year, so good for another 4 years. TBH I like the online option, saves me having to travel.

I like to travel... especially as I don't get to travel for work much these days.  No one wants to see me in person, all via the screen! 😞 

2 minutes ago, savethatjek said:

Got mine tomorrow night, do they sometimes give away any spoilers like the site map changes etc?

It's not Glastonbury specific so I doubt they will give any information like this!

[balti-pie]

the training is really generic and simplistic to be honest, any info they use will likely be well out of date and probably not glastonbury-specific. I quite enjoyed meeting up with others and making it more of a social occasion when i last did it, but can also see the benefit of doing it from home in my pants too 😄 mine is a week today, 19/04

[stuie]

1 minute ago, balti-pie said:

the training is really generic and simplistic to be honest, any info they use will likely be well out of date and probably not glastonbury-specific. I quite enjoyed meeting up with others and making it more of a social occasion when i last did it, but can also see the benefit of doing it from home in my pants too 😄 mine is a week today, 19/04

I thought post-pando they'd give us a choice, to be honest.  

I had to do a speed awareness course the other week (my first in 25 years of driving, don't judge me!) and I could chose to do that online or in person in a classroom setting. 

I guess online is cheaper!