Volunteering 2024

[philipsteak]

Agree that the Glastonbury shifts for Oxfam aren't the best. Especially as I've been PGD and then Sticklinch for years. But one of the downsides I find with the other festivals is that you are more likely to get shifts on show days, sometimes all 3 like just happened at Shambala for me. Not too bad for my shift partners in the arena, less so for me in the Oxfield. Although tbf, that was possibly because of an RA request from me. 

I'll keep doing Glastonbury with Oxfam, largely because I like knowing I'm in and I'm not sure I can be bothered trying to find another way (and I really can't be doing with the ticket bunfight) but also because there's a group of us who do it that way now and camping and working with them is as much a part of it

[philipsteak]

10 hours ago, ilovelanegan said:

 

Why is that, out of interest? Never done Bearded but keen to do it as a punter and/or volunteer sooner rather than later.

 

Apologies, I'm not sure I understand you question. 

 

I don't do Bearded every year but it's solidly in the rotation

[ilovelanegan]

1 hour ago, philipsteak said:

 

Apologies, I'm not sure I understand you question. 

 

I don't do Bearded every year but it's solidly in the rotation

Sorry, I was just wondering why they have significantly fewer Oxfam spaces than other festivals of comparable size? 

[tarw]

1 hour ago, philipsteak said:

Agree that the Glastonbury shifts for Oxfam aren't the best. Especially as I've been PGD and then Sticklinch for years. But one of the downsides I find with the other festivals is that you are more likely to get shifts on show days, sometimes all 3 like just happened at Shambala for me. Not too bad for my shift partners in the arena, less so for me in the Oxfield. Although tbf, that was possibly because of an RA request from me. 

I'll keep doing Glastonbury with Oxfam, largely because I like knowing I'm in and I'm not sure I can be bothered trying to find another way (and I really can't be doing with the ticket bunfight) but also because there's a group of us who do it that way now and camping and working with them is as much a part of it

I think that it’s just luck. At Shambala I had a Wednesday shift and a Monday shift with an overnight in the main arena. As the main arena was in the Jazz Club until 06:00 I only had 3 hours of standing around in the drizzle chatting to people crawling back to their tents that wasn’t a good time. 
Last year I had Oxfield shifts so I can sympathise 

[tarw]

One thing struck me about Oxfam whilst I was at Shambala was the money made for Oxfam. 
We were told that stewarding raises £1.5 million for them. 
If Glastonbury makes them £1m then that’s only £500k for the other festivals. The two I worked had 500&600 volunteers. That’s 26,400 man hours! On those two festivals alone. 
How much money does each volunteer raise?  I didn’t do My Cause because it only raises £30 for my charity but does Oxfam raise much more?

[philipsteak]

1 hour ago, ilovelanegan said:

Sorry, I was just wondering why they have significantly fewer Oxfam spaces than other festivals of comparable size? 

Ah ok. 

Certainly at Shambala Oxfam seen to do most of the stewarding. Other festivals have different contracts for different roles (don't put all your eggs in one basket maybe) or keep some in house to save money

[incident]

2 hours ago, philipsteak said:

Ah ok. 

Certainly at Shambala Oxfam seen to do most of the stewarding. Other festivals have different contracts for different roles (don't put all your eggs in one basket maybe) or keep some in house to save money

 

I think a big part of it is also just the level of provision. Some festivals will give a particular role to stewards, whereas some festivals have security doing the same thing, or for that matter don't do the job at all.

 

In short (because I could get boring on this), Bearded tends to rely on the minimum number of stewards, whereas Shambala take the exact opposite approach. Beautiful Days is somewhere in between.

[tarw]

2 hours ago, incident said:

 

I think a big part of it is also just the level of provision. Some festivals will give a particular role to stewards, whereas some festivals have security doing the same thing, or for that matter don't do the job at all.

 

In short (because I could get boring on this), Bearded tends to rely on the minimum number of stewards, whereas Shambala take the exact opposite approach. Beautiful Days is somewhere in between.

At Shambala this year Oxfam were given the contract for providing safety briefings to all people arriving before public gates opening and giving them their build and break H&S wristbands. Matt said that they hope to do more of that next year. Shambala do seem to give as many roles as possible to Oxfam 

[incident]

6 minutes ago, tarw said:

At Shambala this year Oxfam were given the contract for providing safety briefings to all people arriving before public gates opening and giving them their build and break H&S wristbands. Matt said that they hope to do more of that next year. Shambala do seem to give as many roles as possible to Oxfam 

 

Ah, that's good to hear. More people getting shifts out of the way before the festival starts is always a positive thing.

[Leyrulion]

On 8/31/2024 at 9:20 AM, tarw said:

One thing struck me about Oxfam whilst I was at Shambala was the money made for Oxfam. 
We were told that stewarding raises £1.5 million for them. 
If Glastonbury makes them £1m then that’s only £500k for the other festivals. The two I worked had 500&600 volunteers. That’s 26,400 man hours! On those two festivals alone. 
How much money does each volunteer raise?  I didn’t do My Cause because it only raises £30 for my charity but does Oxfam raise much more?

I think the £1 million donation from Glastonbury is separate to/on top of the payment for the stewarding. Could be wrong though. 

[philipsteak]

10 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

I think the £1 million donation from Glastonbury is separate to/on top of the payment for the stewarding. Could be wrong though. 

Yeah I always got that impression. 

There's a charitable donation and a payment for providing stewarding services

[Leyrulion]

On 8/30/2024 at 9:23 PM, amfy said:

I’ve definitely come to the conclusion that Glastonbury is one of the worst to volunteer at.

I have almost the opposite view point. I think it's the best one, I think the shift patterns let you see a lot more. I find the shift times better for seeing more acts, less shifts over fri-sun, overnights less draining as it's 10-6 not midnight-8. Facilities in the Oxfam field are usually much nicer than a lot of other festivals as well. 

 

I've been lucky with gate allocation at Glastonbury (think we both did C one year!) and unlucky with other festivals as I seem to always get campsites, fire towers and crossing points which are dull. In 21 shifts I've only had one arena shift when the arena was actually open. 

 

With the extra days, ease of transport and spread of shifts it's the best volunteer experience for me.

 

[amfy]

3 hours ago, Leyrulion said:

I have almost the opposite view point. I think it's the best one, I think the shift patterns let you see a lot more. I find the shift times better for seeing more acts, less shifts over fri-sun, overnights less draining as it's 10-6 not midnight-8. Facilities in the Oxfam field are usually much nicer than a lot of other festivals as well. 

 

I've been lucky with gate allocation at Glastonbury (think we both did C one year!) and unlucky with other festivals as I seem to always get campsites, fire towers and crossing points which are dull. In 21 shifts I've only had one arena shift when the arena was actually open. 

 

With the extra days, ease of transport and spread of shifts it's the best volunteer experience for me.

 

See the year we were on C, we had Friday overnight and Sunday evening, leaving only Saturday night, a bit knackered from the overnighter. Thursday morning was the other one, and you can get a Thursday shift anywhere.
 

We only saw Elton because we let most people sneak off early, and then got an earful because only us supervisors were left when Oxfam came to formally close the gate down! 
To be fair I did enjoy Gate C though, even though I was an accidental supervisor and just didn’t really want to make any decisions!

I had a feeling from something you posted before that we worked together and I’d love to be able to place who you are! I bumped into a couple of people from that team at Boomtown this year! 

 

The year before that I felt like most of the weekend went too, I think we had Friday evening and the overnight on Saturday, but also at stupid Stickleball at the other end of the earth. Outstandingly dull & and I suspect it’s not even in Somerset!

 

In my first year of volunteering for Oxfam I was at stages for 2 shifts at both Bestival and Boomtown. I always seem to get enjoyable shifts at Boomtown even if it’s campsites. Done it 3 times now and this year was the first time I got a shift pattern that included all 3 weekend days.
 I got fire towers for all 3 shifts at my first Beautiful Days, but the next year, all 3 shifts were at The Big Top. At Latitude straight after covid I was on the Accessible viewing platform for the final evening, and I was rotating around the Production Gate and the 2nd stage on one of my other shifts & my supervisor knoew I wanted to see Hot Chip & put me on accessible viewing while they were on! Again - a gate shift on Thursday before it all started.

 

If I am honest a part of my falling out with volunteering with Glastonbury is about Glastonbury in general. It’s just too busy. That adds to how tiring getting to shifts, doing shifts, and enjoying yourself in between shifts is. 
It is also true that working, on gates, on bars or whatever, can expose you to some of the shittiest attitudes of punters, and there seems to be more and more of those at Glastonbury, a place I always loved for its lack of sh*tty attitudes. (Once was totally more than enough for Latitude on the same basis)
 

[Kaboom Boxer]

On 8/29/2024 at 2:05 PM, Leyrulion said:

Told you it's be done early! 

 

They're a great route in for a lot of fests but no Glastonbury which is my main Oxfam motivation. 

Which charity are you talking about?

 

On 8/31/2024 at 7:06 AM, philipsteak said:

Agree that the Glastonbury shifts for Oxfam aren't the best. Especially as I've been PGD and then Sticklinch for years. But one of the downsides I find with the other festivals is that you are more likely to get shifts on show days, sometimes all 3 like just happened at Shambala for me. Not too bad for my shift partners in the arena, less so for me in the Oxfield. Although tbf, that was possibly because of an RA request from me. 

I'll keep doing Glastonbury with Oxfam, largely because I like knowing I'm in and I'm not sure I can be bothered trying to find another way (and I really can't be doing with the ticket bunfight) but also because there's a group of us who do it that way now and camping and working with them is as much a part of it

What is an RA request?

[stuie]

2 hours ago, Kaboom Boxer said:

What is an RA request?

Reasonable adjustments for workers with disabilities or health conditions

[marathonsteve]

20 hours ago, stuie said:

Reasonable adjustments for workers with disabilities or health conditions

So people with disabilities will be taken care of 

[marathonsteve]

On 9/2/2024 at 10:32 PM, marathonsteve said:

So people with disabilities will be taken care of 

No reply be careful and ask who they working for on this site

[Avalon_Fields]

On 9/1/2024 at 10:17 PM, amfy said:

 

It is also true that working, on gates, on bars or whatever, can expose you to some of the shittiest attitudes of punters, and there seems to be more and more of those at Glastonbury, a place I always loved for its lack of sh*tty attitudes. (Once was totally more than enough for Latitude on the same basis)
 

I’d be interested to hear if that’s the general view from those who volunteer and if so, why do you think that is?

[tarw]

7 minutes ago, Avalon_Fields said:

I’d be interested to hear if that’s the general view from those who volunteer and if so, why do you think that is?

I’d probably agree that there is more agro now. I think that it’s down to people having more expectations than they used to and the availability of coke. 

[efcfanwirral]

38 minutes ago, Avalon_Fields said:

I’d be interested to hear if that’s the general view from those who volunteer and if so, why do you think that is?

While I got lucky with my locations and shifts all being on the village gate at Glastonbury, I can see where some of it comes from 

 

I think there's a fair assumption that because we "work here" we'll know more than we do, and, bluntly, can be more helpful than we can be. That can lead to what I see as justified frustration.

 

When you go to most places of business you expect to deal with an employee, not a volunteer who might be there for the first time, or on their first shift. Couple that with security who often don't know anything about the festival and I can see how people get annoyed being passed around to various people who may or may not have the answers they're looking for.

 

I certainly don't think volunteers, at least those with the minimal training we get, should be doing the wristband checking on accessibility platforms for example. Or at least there should be a dedicated pot of people who have extra training, have done it before and are comfortable and competent in a sometimes very sensitive situation. I felt hugely out of my depth at Reading doing that. 

 

Just to expand on that - example, a teenage girl who quite clearly is very overwhelmed wants to come onto the platform because the tent is full, is there with her friend who is clearly caring for her, and she's bawling her eyes out because she's missing her favourite artist, and is becoming increasingly agitated.  They didn't sign up for the accessibility passes, but our orders are "no wristband no entry" and we have to stick with them. Surely you need someone trained in sensitively dealing with such situations around? 

Edited September 5 by efcfanwirral

[Skip997]

17 minutes ago, tarw said:

I’d probably agree that there is more agro now. I think that it’s down to people having more expectations than they used to and the availability of coke. 

Spot on with this.

 

The proliferation of cocaine is a massive part of an increase in bad attitudes 

[tarw]

2 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Spot on with this.

 

The proliferation of cocaine is a massive part of an increase in bad attitudes 

It’s definitely a part but I think that the higher expectations people have is also a factor. I can’t remember the last time I saw a bin bag used as a poncho or someone using a wheelybin that they’d bought cans of Stella in to sell as a tent. 
People are paying a lot more relatively for a ticket and expect a clean safe environment. And get arsey when they don’t get it. 

[StoneCircle]

2 hours ago, tarw said:

I’d probably agree that there is more agro now. I think that it’s down to people having more expectations than they used to and the availability of coke. 

 

I was pretty shocked last year at the open use of coke around us during Elton. 

[Crazyfool01]

6 minutes ago, tarw said:

It’s definitely a part but I think that the higher expectations people have is also a factor. I can’t remember the last time I saw a bin bag used as a poncho or someone using a wheelybin that they’d bought cans of Stella in to sell as a tent. 
People are paying a lot more relatively for a ticket and expect a clean safe environment. And get arsey when they don’t get it. 

good timing I just posted about similar in crowd thread 

[Skip997]

3 minutes ago, StoneCircle said:

 

I was pretty shocked last year at the open use of coke around us during Elton. 

It’s every where

 

Interestingly though, there was noticeably less at Shambala this year and I only saw 3 nitrous balloons all weekend