1 major change

[gooner1990]

Just now, Skip997 said:

Which crew?

To my knowledge it's Oxfam and security, any others?

Shelter/Avalon events do. I camped outside PGC in 2019 when I worked for then.

[stuie]

Just now, Skip997 said:

Which crew?

To my knowledge it's Oxfam and security, any others?

You were quick… i edited that straight away. But my point remains, priority for prime camp should be with paying punters. And Oxfam and security are pretty essential… shows not happening without them.

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, stuie said:

You were quick… i edited that straight away. But my point remains, priority for prime camp should be with paying punters. And Oxfam and security are pretty essential… shows not happening without them.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

[stuie]

1 minute ago, Skip997 said:

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

I wouldn't expect anything else, you camp in a prime spot!

This is all irrelevant anyway, you started off the topic being outraged that green fields folk were being shipped off to B&W but their allocated space hasn't changed at all. 

 

[Crazyfool01]

1 hour ago, tigger123 said:

Afraid not, official attendance is the same, although it could feel less busy this year if they’ve tightened up security and there are less people who have broken, the numbers of which were rumoured to be quite high last year 

From what I’ve heard already from people onsite security and organisation is much better . Hopefully we will see this at the festival 

[DeanoL]

15 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

The majority aren't paid, including myself. Those who are really essential need to be close to where they work. Putting essential crew camping away from where they work will significantly reduce their available working time.

Doesn't work that way. Travelling to work is a thing that happens. You don't get paid for it. It doesn't count under working time regulations. And we're not talking putting people up in hotels in Bristol (though many people do have 1hr+ commutes to work in the real world). We're talking having a half hour walk instead of five minutes. And that's from the camp site, which unless you shift starts first thing in the morning, won't even necessarily be where you are before it anyway, not if you're taking the chance to see the festival.

But yeah, you're a case in point: I think you should either be paid or just shouldn't be on staff. You should either be needed or you're not. The fact you're still mentioning "I might not even go" a week before the festival and a few days before you're due on site suggests they might be fine without you! But equally tell me you're crucial to the festival working and I'll be saying you should be waged! This isn't a dig at you, it's just I doubt you're the only one in this position and I think that's a huge part of the issue - expanding crew numbers because it's all reliant on volunteers who (rightly) have demands about where they should be able to camp and how many hours they should have to work because they're not otherwise being compensated. 

[gfa]

We're very lucky that currently people who pay more don't get to camp nearer.

[northernangel]

40k less tickets sold so room to move become doable again. Too much time thinking if hat side I need to be stage wise to move out. It is a huge number but at 170k attendees the festival far a far better experience. Mind you it was also better booked.

I can't help but think though that the attendee number is higher due to surroundings farm's rent increasing and the festival needing these things in place to keep the festival going.

[fred quimby]

Retractable dome over the site 😃

no worries about weather and they could have projections on it

[Skip997]

11 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

The fact you're still mentioning "I might not even go" a week before the festival and a few days before you're due on site suggests they might be fine without you!

Yea they could manage without me, but the rest of our crew wouldn't be happy with the increased work load.

If I didn't turn up then my ticket would be given to someone else. We don't have a photo on ours and I don't get it until I'm on site.

[Sasperella2]

Not wanting to delibsrately wade into this camping fight..... But I had genuinely come on to say that my only change would be switching Pylon and Rivermead back to normal camping! How on earth do you encourage coach use if you've blocked all the nearby camping off?? 

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

1 hour ago, Skip997 said:

Which crew?

To my knowledge it's Oxfam and security, any others?

Shelter volunteers in Avalon bars.

[amfy]

1 hour ago, DeanoL said:

Doesn't work that way. Travelling to work is a thing that happens. You don't get paid for it. It doesn't count under working time regulations. And we're not talking putting people up in hotels in Bristol (though many people do have 1hr+ commutes to work in the real world). We're talking having a half hour walk instead of five minutes. And that's from the camp site, which unless you shift starts first thing in the morning, won't even necessarily be …

Don’t under-estimate the commute!

I’m not saying we should be moved to inside the fence but the journey to my shift from the Oxfam field outside the fence to Stickleball was an hour and a half. With the mini bus I only had to walk about the last mile of that, but the minibus is irregular and goes a long way round and sometimes there isn’t enough room and you just have to walk the whole thing. So you allow an hour and a half and if you’re lucky you may stroll the last bit rather than yomp the last bit or even all of it!

This does mean being up at 4am for a 6am shift start so you will be going back to camp at the end too because no one can realistically get it together to be out all day at that time!

A more central camping location on such a large site would be very much appreciated by those of us that have to completely cross the site before and/or after an 8 hour standing shift. I accept it but it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a case for crew being more central.

In real life I have a big commute 50 miles each way from Morecambe to Wigan and it doesn’t take as long and I’m not having to walk all or any of it! 

[Skip997]

4 minutes ago, amfy said:

Don’t under-estimate the commute!

No need to quote the whole post

Well said.

[DeanoL]

6 minutes ago, amfy said:

Don’t under-estimate the commute!

I’m not saying we should be moved to inside the fence but the journey to my shift from the Oxfam field outside the fence to Stickleball was an hour and a half. With the mini bus I only had to walk about the last mile of that, but the minibus is irregular and goes a long way round and sometimes there isn’t enough room and you just have to walk the whole thing. So you allow an hour and a half and if you’re lucky you may stroll the last bit rather than yomp the last bit or even all of it!

I feel the answer to that is sorting out the minibus infrastructure. I do admit I didn't realise it was that bad.

But ultimately crew should be there to do a job. Indeed, Oxfam especially as those volunteers *are* being paid - it's just their wage is directly donated to Oxfam. The festival still pays for you though. 

Skip's situation is a bit different as there is no cost to the festival for him, other than the free ticket (which could otherwise be sold). He's volunteering directly for the festival itself.

But I think the one thing I'd change is overhauling the whole thing - because clearly no-one is happy with the current situation, neither punters nor crew.

[Skip997]

2 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

Skip's situation is a bit different as there is no cost to the festival for him, other than the free ticket (which could otherwise be sold). He's volunteering directly for the festival itself.

To the best of my knowledge it's the same for me as it is for Oxfam volunteers. Our "wage" is donated to a charity.

I've never actually asked though.

[amfy]

7 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

I feel the answer to that is sorting out the minibus infrastructure. I do admit I didn't realise it was that bad.

But ultimately crew should be there to do a job. Indeed, Oxfam especially as those volunteers *are* being paid - it's just their wage is directly donated to Oxfam. The festival still pays for you though. 

Skip's situation is a bit different as there is no cost to the festival for him, other than the free ticket (which could otherwise be sold). He's volunteering directly for the festival itself.

But I think the one thing I'd change is overhauling the whole thing - because clearly no-one is happy with the current situation, neither punters nor crew.

The mini bus has to go round the outside of the site which is about 5 miles as going across during the festival is too unpredictable and limited traffic is allowed to cross site anyway. It also does multiple drops and pick ups & is quite a convoluted route, but I have to admit we did think that those of us that still had a hike beyond PGD should have been prioritised, although I also understand those on PGD staking their claim because that is far enough!

It was so disheartening to hobble the mile or so to PGD after 9 hours on your feet to find the minibus already filling up with volunteers who were already there! In their minds they were as desperate as it gets to be on that bus as they didn’t have any reason to know where we had ended up working! 
 

my ‘wage’ does go to Charity but I consider my ‘pay’ to be entry to the festival. I don’t think of it as unpaid although when my feet hurt as much as they sometimes do I wonder how much of me is left for the festival!

Edited June 13, 2023 by amfy

[buddiepaul]

17 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

oh and my one thing or is it 2 ..... a few more toilets , bigger ones in the park and troughs on all the urinal walls ..... dont piss on the ground folks please 🙂 

Definitely more toilets in the park required. 

[DeanoL]

10 minutes ago, amfy said:

my ‘wage’ does go to Charity but I consider my ‘pay’ to be entry to the festival. I don’t think of it as unpaid although when my feet hurt as much as they sometimes do I wonder how much of me is left for the festival!

I noticed with some interest that this may be the first year that a festival ticket is worth more than 3x8 hours at minimum wage!

(Not a good comparison though, as you inevitably miss a whole bunch of the festival within those shifts)

[Skip997]

19 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

To the best of my knowledge it's the same for me as it is for Oxfam volunteers. Our "wage" is donated to a charity.

I've never actually asked though.

Although having thought about it, we don't have a set number of hours, we do as many as are necessary to complete the work. So I'm not sure how they they would work out our "wage'.

Maybe we are an exception.

Edited June 13, 2023 by Skip997

[fred quimby]

1 minute ago, Skip997 said:

Although having thought about it, we don't have a set number of hours, we do as many as are necessary to complete the work. So I'm not sure how they they would work out our "wage'.

Maybe we are an exception.

Our crew are the same. Start Monday and general 9 till 9 and Di what is required. We have a team so not working all those hours, but no set shifts

[clarkete]

On 6/12/2023 at 12:19 PM, Isaact said:

Yes I think unanimously people think the Pyramid lineup is the weakest in a long time.

Unanimously? 

I don't recall being asked and feel you're a tad presumptuous with many of your claims. 

[e_p]

One way would be to Reduce the number of performers.  On the smaller stages, all the DJs, jugglers etc.  there are ‘0000s of them.  Even if each of them only gets a ticket, let alone one for friends crew and management that’s a lot of people 

[chazwwe]

On 6/12/2023 at 12:19 PM, Isaact said:

Yes I think unanimously people think the Pyramid lineup is the weakest in a long time.

Even the people I've spoken to who aren't going have said pretty much straight off the bat that "the line up isn't very good this year, is it?"

And for these people, the Pyramid line up = the line up.

I do wonder how the BBC will fill the schedules as there's nothing exciting on there.

People who don't go only think about the pyramid. Line ups across the festival circuit aren't fantastic this year. I still have 3 must see's and 2-3 I'm seeing anyway.

[Tranquility of Solitude]

2 minutes ago, chazwwe said:

People who don't go only think about the pyramid.

So true. I’m tired of the question “who’s playing” when people find out I’m going. They usually switch off after I’ve listed the first few hundred acts......