eFestivals exclusive: Glastonbury's new Operations Director revealed

eFestivals can exclusively reveal that the Operations Director for Glastonbury Festival will be revealed as APL Event's Paul Ludford.

Earlier in the week the Festival was granted the opportunity to take the entertainment licence back in house at a Mendip District Council Scrutiny Meeting ending their decade-long association with Melvin Benn from Festival Republic.

The license transferred to a new in-house management team who we understand will be headed up by Paul Ludford who has not yet been officially installed in the post.

Well known within the industry Ludford has has been involved with music for the last 30 years and worked with various music festivals, as well as concerts with some of the world's biggest artists.

Hailing from the North East of England Lunford started an indie club in Newcastle, The Soul Kitchen, followed by the Kitchenware Record label. He then moved into music promotion and became a leading light in the safe licensing of all events like ReZerection. Paul was a consultant on the HSE's 'The Event Safety Guide', more commonly known as the 'Pop Code'.

In 1998 he moved into into event and music festival management and founded APL Event as a family partnership and was invited to assist with the management of T in the Park. From 1998 until 2007, they were involved with campsite, site and project management as well as budget and accounting procedures, purchase order systems, CAD site design and management organisational structures.

The company currently site manages Download, Camp Bestival, Bestival and Creamfields festivals as well as The Olympic events. They have previously worked alongside events including Proms In The Park, Camp Bestival, Creamfields, Download, Oxegen, The Big Weekend, Rock Ness, T in the Park, Wakestock, and others.

Paul is also a master practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming, studies schools of psychology, and coaches individuals and groups in personal and business development. He's also a volunteer with the children's charity Barnardo's and works as a family conflict mediator in their Crash Pad scheme and is a young person's mentor for the charity.

Ludford has yet to be officially confirmed in the post, and we expect this to be sometime towards the end of the month. Ludford seems a perfect fit as Melvin Benn's replacement and is highly regarded from the industry, has a high track record, and the Festival team are sure to be looking forward to working with him.

Ludford and the Festival will not have to apply for a new licence for four more years with the current licence granted by the local council allowing them to run the event until at least 2016.

All registered festival-goers who want to buy tickets will be able reserve them using the deposit scheme at a price of £50 per ticket payable from 9am on Sunday 7th October 2012, and eFestivals will have links for you to buy them then. A car park ticket will be priced at £25, and a campervan ticket priced at £85 both these options will available in Spring 2013.

UK ticket balance payments of £155 per ticket, will be payable in the first week of April 2013 following the Easter Weekend with international ticket balance payments will be taken from Monday 25th February until Sunday 3rd March 2013. Please note that there is no option to pay your ticket balance prior to these dates.

The ticket price covers entry to the Festival site at Worthy Farm, Pilton, in Somerset from Wednesday 26th June until Monday 1st July 2013 and, as ever, includes a free programme. Once again, the Festival will be raising funds for Oxfam, Wateraid, Greenpeace and a host of local charities and causes (in 2011, more than £2m was raised).

Everyone who plans to the come Glastonbury Festival must register in advance in order to be able to obtain their ticket, and that includes children aged 13, 14 and 15. All ticket holders (not just the person who purchases the tickets for a group) MUST register in advance so that their ticket can have their photo printed onto the ticket.

Registration does not reserve or guarantee you a ticket, but if you don't register you will not be able to buy a ticket for Glastonbury Festival 2013.

Online registration for 2013 can be carried out by clicking here.

Farmer and founder Michael Eavis has already said that next year will be the best one ever, saying "We've already got some acts confirmed, but I can't say who they are. There's not a shadow of a doubt – it will be the best festival we've ever done." No acts are confirmed as yet for 2013. eFestivals will bring you the very latest rumours - keep your eyes on the Glastonbury 2013 rumours, updated as we receive information.

For more detailed registration (for 2013) and ticket information click here.

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