Volunteering 2024

[stuie]

Just now, Nick_ said:

Do all of the volunteer positions require good physical health and endurance?  I'm thinking I would probably struggle to both do a shift and be at some performances on the same day.

They will make reasonable adjustments for medical issues, age and disability in a lot of cases, but as for if you’ll have the energy to go out after your shift, only you will know that! 

Of course, RA isn’t possible for some positions, if you aren’t able to litterpick or serve bars for hours, for example. 

[Leyrulion]

1 hour ago, mjfromthelane said:

My main question is, if you go the volunteering route and aren't too picky with who you go with, what's the likelihood of being successful? Appreciate the competition is probably going up every year, but would be interesting to know how hard it was for 2023

I would say if you were committed enough then you would definitely be able to find a place. It's a little tricky at the start as so many options tend to be word of mouth (particularly SE corner stewarding and green fields). 

But theres at least 19 organisations on that spreadsheet, you'd be able to get in somewhere (and if not this year then definitely next year).

[Leyrulion]

50 minutes ago, mjfromthelane said:

think this is what appeals. I've always operated on pretty minimal sleep at festivals and the Glasto programme is so packed that missing out on a good set or two would always be outweighed by actually being there and the rest of the experience.

One advantage is the enforced bed times because you've got to be up early. Didn't like having to tear myself away after the end of foo fighters for an 8 hour overnight shift but you still have a great time. Having to take it easy on a couple of days isn't so bad.

[stuie]

5 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

One advantage is the enforced bed times because you've got to be up early. Didn't like having to tear myself away after the end of foo fighters for an 8 hour overnight shift but you still have a great time. Having to take it easy on a couple of days isn't so bad.

Leaving my friends after Fred Again and laying awake in my van listening to Alex Turner's vocals mixed with some random bass lines from the SE Corner was my lowest point of G2023. 

Eventually, I managed to drift asleep and started my early shift at 04:45 😕

 

[Leyrulion]

Just now, stuie said:

Leaving my friends after Fred Again and laying awake in my van listening to Alex Turner's vocals mixed with some random bass lines from the SE Corner was my lowest point of G2023. 

Eventually, I managed to drift asleep and started my early shift at 04:45 😕

 

I was working that shift. Having people leave saying Artic monkeys were a bit sh*t was quite nice. Thought I was hallucinating at 3am in the circus field but they did just have a light display in there. 

[Jay Pee]

It is about time that i drop in the usual line that virtually all WaterAid roles are daytime only and not through the night. you get to maintain some semblance of a normal sleep pattern although there is the occasional 06:30 start which does impact on partying slightly.

Trade off being a lot of them are Loo Crew but as i have said many times, its not as bad as one may imagine it to be.

[amfy]

3 minutes ago, stuie said:

Leaving my friends after Fred Again and laying awake in my van listening to Alex Turner's vocals mixed with some random bass lines from the SE Corner was my lowest point of G2023. 

Eventually, I managed to drift asleep and started my early shift at 04:45 😕

 

The early shift starting at 5.45 for most stewards and 4.45 for supervisors at Glastonbury is a bit of a killer - especially if you have a shift that is an hour or more from the campsite! 
Most other festivals have a 7.45/6.45 early shift which isn’t as painful.

The Glastonbury shift pattern for Oxfam also has your overnighter starting at 9.45/8.45pm, taking out an extra headliner, as most festivals start the overnight shift at 11.45/10.45 & you could still catch the main act before going on duty (although the overnight is always a killer after a full day out!)
 

[Leyrulion]

2 minutes ago, amfy said:

The early shift starting at 5.45 for most stewards and 4.45 for supervisors at Glastonbury is a bit of a killer - especially if you have a shift that is an hour or more from the campsite! 
Most other festivals have a 7.45/6.45 early shift which isn’t as painful.

The Glastonbury shift pattern for Oxfam also has your overnighter starting at 9.45/8.45pm, taking out an extra headliner, as most festivals start the overnight shift at 11.45/10.45 & you could still catch the main act before going on duty (although the overnight is always a killer after a full day out!)
 

Having done an 11:45-8am Monday shift at Shambala I am a really big fan of the Glastonbury 9/10pm-5/6am overnights. Just feels a bit better as you can get some proper sleep. 

Midnight to 8am feels like it ruins 2 days. 

[upstream]

The volunteering route is broadly split into 2 or 3 routes. the big boys ( wateraid, Greenpeace and oxfam) these have by far the biggest cohort of volunteers somewhere near 6 thousand. then you have the amazing recycling crews ans Poo crew. I'll be honest and don't know anything at all about how you get involved with them but someone will help you on that score and they are amazing and do a fantastic crucial job.  Finally the bit I can talk a little about is the area volunteers.  Most appear to be set up in a failry similar way. there is an Area coordinator ( for kids field, SE corner, soilver heyes, Woodsies, Greenfields, cicus Park etc etc.  This coordinator will have a small team of supervisors that work dorectly with them. And then there will be local charities who are "contracted" to bring a fixed amount of volunteers. Each of these sub groups will have a teram leader who recruits their team from family and friends and from the charity they are supporting.   Getting into these groups is very hard as it is predominently word of mouth. For example I was invited to join a local school group well over a decade ago and we have over 80% of the same people return year after year. As you can see getting is a bit dead man shoes.    I have a small team of volunteers that I am leader of and we this year are 100% the same as last and thats 98% of the previous 3 festivals. I have a waiting list to join that is 4 times the size of the team so I apologise in advance I'll not be able to help anyone that contacts me looking for a place.   This final cohort which I am proud to be a part of - do an amazing job, work damn hard and raise a ton of money for local charities throught he benevolence and support of the festival, which is why these volunteers are so commited to the festival. It is so much more than music  and good times - it is woven into the culture and infrastructure of the local schools and charities . - hope some of the above helps and explains - If I have anything wrong - as this is the internet I am sure someone will be quick to point it out. 

[amfy]

1 minute ago, Leyrulion said:

Having done an 11:45-8am Monday shift at Shambala I am a really big fan of the Glastonbury 9/10pm-5/6am overnights. Just feels a bit better as you can get some proper sleep. 

Midnight to 8am feels like it ruins 2 days. 

I don’t sleep that well after an overnighter either way tbh & I’m pretty wiped out the day after that no matter what. The Glastonbury shift pattern potentially takes out 2 headliners (whichever stage that is!) as you miss out on the festival on both your afternoon/evening shift & your overnighter. The 8am shift pattern only takes out the headliner on your afternoon/evening shift - although you do of course have to stay sober (ish!) ahead of your overnighter. 

On both the Glastonburies that I have worked during the festival I’ve had a shift pattern where I missed 2 headliners . You think because it’s 3 shifts over 5 days instead of the usual 4 you’ll get more festival, but for me, the change in timings is the thing that messes that up a bit.

I can see why they do it. They want the gate teams to be well organised ahead of the gates opening at 8am on the Wednesday.

 

 

[stuie]

33 minutes ago, amfy said:

The early shift starting at 5.45 for most stewards and 4.45 for supervisors at Glastonbury is a bit of a killer - especially if you have a shift that is an hour or more from the campsite! 
Most other festivals have a 7.45/6.45 early shift which isn’t as painful.

The Glastonbury shift pattern for Oxfam also has your overnighter starting at 9.45/8.45pm, taking out an extra headliner, as most festivals start the overnight shift at 11.45/10.45 & you could still catch the main act before going on duty (although the overnight is always a killer after a full day out!)
 

Swings and roundabouts though... I'd prefer the early start and early finish but I can cope with little sleep for a few days.  I was supervisor at Wilderness this year and supervisors and team both started the early at 7:45 which I thought seemed like poor organisation - no time to get on your feet before you're sorting out your team! 

 

 

[stuie]

16 minutes ago, upstream said:

The volunteering route is broadly split into 2 or 3 routes. the big boys ( wateraid, Greenpeace and oxfam) these have by far the biggest cohort of volunteers somewhere near 6 thousand. then you have the amazing recycling crews ans Poo crew. I'll be honest and don't know anything at all about how you get involved with them but someone will help you on that score and they are amazing and do a fantastic crucial job.  Finally the bit I can talk a little about is the area volunteers.  Most appear to be set up in a failry similar way. there is an Area coordinator ( for kids field, SE corner, soilver heyes, Woodsies, Greenfields, cicus Park etc etc.  This coordinator will have a small team of supervisors that work dorectly with them. And then there will be local charities who are "contracted" to bring a fixed amount of volunteers. Each of these sub groups will have a teram leader who recruits their team from family and friends and from the charity they are supporting.   Getting into these groups is very hard as it is predominently word of mouth. For example I was invited to join a local school group well over a decade ago and we have over 80% of the same people return year after year. As you can see getting is a bit dead man shoes.    I have a small team of volunteers that I am leader of and we this year are 100% the same as last and thats 98% of the previous 3 festivals. I have a waiting list to join that is 4 times the size of the team so I apologise in advance I'll not be able to help anyone that contacts me looking for a place.   This final cohort which I am proud to be a part of - do an amazing job, work damn hard and raise a ton of money for local charities throught he benevolence and support of the festival, which is why these volunteers are so commited to the festival. It is so much more than music  and good times - it is woven into the culture and infrastructure of the local schools and charities . - hope some of the above helps and explains - If I have anything wrong - as this is the internet I am sure someone will be quick to point it out. 

That's interesting to know - thank you.  I don't think we've had anyone on the volunteering threads that have worked in this area before so it's been a bit of a grey area in our knowledge.

[incident]

9 minutes ago, stuie said:

Swings and roundabouts though... I'd prefer the early start and early finish but I can cope with little sleep for a few days.  I was supervisor at Wilderness this year and supervisors and team both started the early at 7:45 which I thought seemed like poor organisation - no time to get on your feet before you're sorting out your team!

To be honest, I've done a fair few festivals with Oxfam (more than 10 different festivals).

Glastonbury is the only one of the ones I've done where supervisors have been offset by an hour*. Everywhere else it tends to be that the Supervisor starts at the same time as the main shift pattern - so most commonly 07:45, 15:45, 23:45 at festivals other than Glastonbury.

Oxbox / SLT usually do start/changeover an hour earlier at those festivals, but that's a very small number of people.

 

*so obviously some exceptions. At a few festivals (notably Shambala) it's broadly true but some of the shifts especially working in venues can have start times all over the place so there's cases where a supervisor starting at 15:45 will have staff coming on 1, 2, or 3 hours later. Even at Glastonbury, there's locations where the offset doesn't exist - Blue Gate being one of them.

[Leyrulion]

33 minutes ago, amfy said:

I don’t sleep that well after an overnighter either way tbh & I’m pretty wiped out the day after that no matter what. The Glastonbury shift pattern potentially takes out 2 headliners (whichever stage that is!) as you miss out on the festival on both your afternoon/evening shift & your overnighter. The 8am shift pattern only takes out the headliner on your afternoon/evening shift - although you do of course have to stay sober (ish!) ahead of your overnighter. 

On both the Glastonburies that I have worked during the festival I’ve had a shift pattern where I missed 2 headliners . You think because it’s 3 shifts over 5 days instead of the usual 4 you’ll get more festival, but for me, the change in timings is the thing that messes that up a bit.

I can see why they do it. They want the gate teams to be well organised ahead of the gates opening at 8am on the Wednesday.

 

 

Yeah I guess if you've got a 10pm finish and are over at stick lynch you're not getting to he headliner that's true. I feel like if I was desperate to see an act I'd ask the supervisor if I could leave a little earlier, take the break at 9:30 to try to rush over, if I was the supervisor I'd have let you go at like 9:15! 

Remembered that there was a girl this year who when I turned up to a gate as team leader, apologised profusely and said she had to stay another 3 hours because she was late to the previous shift (over slept). Waited until after all the stewards on shift with her had gone (she was on her own) and then just let her go. 

No point her staying when we were already over staffed and she'd signed out. 

[upstream]

34 minutes ago, stuie said:

That's interesting to know - thank you.  I don't think we've had anyone on the volunteering threads that have worked in this area before so it's been a bit of a grey area in our knowledge.

happy to give more info  on the y it sort of fits together if you message me 

[stuie]

8 minutes ago, upstream said:

happy to give more info  on the y it sort of fits together if you message me 

I appreciate the offer but I'm a regular long-timer with Oxfam, it's just good for others to have all of the information in this thread. 

[amfy]

39 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

Yeah I guess if you've got a 10pm finish and are over at stick lynch you're not getting to he headliner that's true. I feel like if I was desperate to see an act I'd ask the supervisor if I could leave a little earlier, take the break at 9:30 to try to rush over, if I was the supervisor I'd have let you go at like 9:15! 

Remembered that there was a girl this year who when I turned up to a gate as team leader, apologised profusely and said she had to stay another 3 hours because she was late to the previous shift (over slept). Waited until after all the stewards on shift with her had gone (she was on her own) and then just let her go. 

No point her staying when we were already over staffed and she'd signed out. 

2 things here - One is that the shift pattern affects everyone the same & you can’t let everyone go! 
the other is that I was the supervisor! 🤣
 

Edited November 20, 2023 by amfy

[Leyrulion]

1 hour ago, upstream said:

The volunteering route is broadly split into 2 or 3 routes. the big boys ( wateraid, Greenpeace and oxfam) these have by far the biggest cohort of volunteers somewhere near 6 thousand. then you have the amazing recycling crews ans Poo crew. I'll be honest and don't know anything at all about how you get involved with them but someone will help you on that score and they are amazing and do a fantastic crucial job.  Finally the bit I can talk a little about is the area volunteers.  Most appear to be set up in a failry similar way. there is an Area coordinator ( for kids field, SE corner, soilver heyes, Woodsies, Greenfields, cicus Park etc etc.  This coordinator will have a small team of supervisors that work dorectly with them. And then there will be local charities who are "contracted" to bring a fixed amount of volunteers. Each of these sub groups will have a teram leader who recruits their team from family and friends and from the charity they are supporting.   Getting into these groups is very hard as it is predominently word of mouth. For example I was invited to join a local school group well over a decade ago and we have over 80% of the same people return year after year. As you can see getting is a bit dead man shoes.    I have a small team of volunteers that I am leader of and we this year are 100% the same as last and thats 98% of the previous 3 festivals. I have a waiting list to join that is 4 times the size of the team so I apologise in advance I'll not be able to help anyone that contacts me looking for a place.   This final cohort which I am proud to be a part of - do an amazing job, work damn hard and raise a ton of money for local charities throught he benevolence and support of the festival, which is why these volunteers are so commited to the festival. It is so much more than music  and good times - it is woven into the culture and infrastructure of the local schools and charities . - hope some of the above helps and explains - If I have anything wrong - as this is the internet I am sure someone will be quick to point it out. 

Much appreciated! Confirms what I suspected about it being a bit of a closed shop for stewards in those areas. 

Not helpful for here as a route in, but if you live round the SW can't hurt to ask around the various local charities. Presumably it's all charities around Bristol/bath/shepton mallet corridor?

[upstream]

23 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

Much appreciated! Confirms what I suspected about it being a bit of a closed shop for stewards in those areas. 

Not helpful for here as a route in, but if you live round the SW can't hurt to ask around the various local charities. Presumably it's all charities around Bristol/bath/shepton mallet corridor?

the charities are pretty much within the Taunton, cheddar yeovil Frome  boundry I guess.  But I know volunteers that are within the teams  that come from Manchester, Norfolk, Newcastle, Truro and elsewhere.  But I take your point - As the idea is to  support local communities and charities then I concede it is mostly drawn from a 25 mile radius to the festival. 

 

[Leyrulion]

35 minutes ago, amfy said:

2 things here - One is that the shift pattern affects everyone the same & you can’t let everyone go! 
the other is that I was the supervisor! 🤣
 

If people ask specifically I try to do what I can (I realise I'm probably actually a terrible supervisor for doing this!)

If you were the supervisor I guess you got off shift at 9? I guess if you went back to the tent or wanted down time after the shift that would mean you missed the headliner. 

[Festival Sounds Podcast]

2 hours ago, Nick_ said:

Do all of the volunteer positions require good physical health and endurance?  I'm thinking I would probably struggle to both do a shift and be at some performances on the same day.

There is inevitably a bit of stamina required unless you accept that the evening before a 6am start (where you might be up at 5am) that you need to be in bed early. 

However, Oxfam are good at making adjustments if you let them know in advance. Not much can be done if they only find out when you show up for you shift.

Edited November 20, 2023 by Festival Sounds Podcast

[oakdown]

Was lucky enough to land a ticket for the first time ever yesterday! But I'm very attached to the Oxfam experience now, so I'll still be trying in the new year and putting my ticket back in the pot if I'm lucky.

Last year's shifts were a bit of a nightmare for me but here's to a better 2024 🎉

[Festival Sounds Podcast]

2 minutes ago, oakdown said:

Was lucky enough to land a ticket for the first time ever yesterday! But I'm very attached to the Oxfam experience now, so I'll still be trying in the new year and putting my ticket back in the pot if I'm lucky.

Last year's shifts were a bit of a nightmare for me but here's to a better 2024 🎉

Probably worth posting what those shifts were so people understand what they could end up with

[amfy]

11 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

If people ask specifically I try to do what I can (I realise I'm probably actually a terrible supervisor for doing this!)

If you were the supervisor I guess you got off shift at 9? I guess if you went back to the tent or wanted down time after the shift that would mean you missed the headliner. 

We got away at 9.15 but let the stewards go at about 8.30 as it was Sunday and Security took over the gates at 8pm.We got to the edge of the field for Elton. It was OK. 
 

We got into a bit of trouble for letting the stewards slip off early even though all the gate supervisors waited til after our official stand down time for the main man to come & stand us down & there was clearly no purpose left in any of us being there! 

 

[Leyrulion]

7 minutes ago, amfy said:

We got into a bit of trouble for letting the stewards slip off early even though all the gate supervisors waited til after our official stand down time for the main man to come & stand us down & there was clearly no purpose left in any of us being there! 

Oh same happened to us, but we didn't really see the point of staying around for some official to formally stand us down. 

The conversation literally went "what are they going to do evict us? It's Elton!" The stewards all ran off at about 8:40 and we followed behind them, bit of a stewards revolt if I'm honest. I still feel bad for the team leader, but saw him at wilderness and he was fine.