I just got back home after an incredible five days volunteering as a steward at Leeds Festival and I wanted to document the experience here on my blog for anyone else looking to do the same next year! When I started researching into the idea of being a volunteer at Leeds this year, rather than a regular ticket holder, I tried and failed to find any in-depth accounts of other people's experiences specifically at this festival, so I hope I may be of use to someone else in the future.
Oxfam takes in volunteers to an incredible amount of festivals nationwide and summer-long, so even if Leeds/Reading may not be for you for whatever reason, there are so many other options for a child-friendly festival, something more art-orientated or perhaps a festival closer to home if you don't fancy staying overnight! I'll start first of all by talking about my shifts as this is the topic I found most difficult to get detailed information on. When you volunteer with Oxfam, you pay a deposit which covers the price of a regular festival ticket and pending you complete three 8-hour shifts, you get your deposit back. If you want to work more than one festival that year, you only pay one deposit. So effectively, you're getting into as many festivals as you want for free while Festival Republic donate the cost of your labour to Oxfam. I arrived on site on Wednesday and had a briefing session in the evening which went a little more in-depth into what the roles consisted of and then I had two days of free time before starting my first shift on Friday night at the arena entrance. I was really nervous but was quickly put at ease by my supervisor who was the nicest guy, although I sadly can't remember his name! Everyone working with me throughout the weekend was around the same age as me which made it a really fun and friendly environment and we all kind of muddled through together when we felt a bit unsure about something. This shift basically involved checking people's wristbands as they entered the arena to go watch that night's acts. Sounds a bit depressing when you would ideally want to be there with everyone else and having fun but it was lively and busy and it was fun to get to talk to so many people who were quite frankly, off their tits. One of my most memorable moments of the weekend was stopping a man from entering the arena who wasn't wearing a wristband, only to find out that he was actually a member of Deaf Havana! I was so apologetic but he was lovely.
My second shift was first thing Saturday morning so I didn't get much sleep that night as I was up bright and early at 7am. I got so lucky with my shift that day. I was assigned to the role of 'response team' which basically means I would be directed to wherever I was needed that day, so I could have been doing any role. For the first hour or so I sat at the Oxfam camping area not really doing much at all. I was bracing myself for a very long and boring day when I got called to head straight to the arena for a day at the main stage disability viewing platform! I got the sense that this was regarded as one of the best roles you could have and I totally understood why. I effectively spent 8 hours stood watching acts perform on stage and it didn't feel like I was really working at all. On top of this, I met some lovely people again in my fellow stewards, supervisors and the public and I'm really pleased that I can now say I've had some experience in working with people with disabilities of all kinds. My third and final shift on Sunday was a bit less exciting as I headed over to a gate which was pretty far away from all the action to scan people's tickets. I'm really not a morning person so I wasn't feeling too optimistic about the day ahead to begin with but once all of the happy faces of the Sunday day-ticket holders started to appear, the time flew by and I found myself really enjoying it again. A really big emphasis had always been made on the fact that we were simply volunteers and so I was never made to feel like I had to do something I was uncomfortable with or something that would put me in danger. The managerial staff in the Oxbox office were always really accommodating and everyone was always assured that if you were unable to make a shift for whatever reason, they could figure it out for you.
The whole crowd of Oxfam volunteers were a really lovely bunch of people and it felt great to be a part of a cute little community like that. It's an unspoken rule that the camping area is kept clean and tidy, so much so that when everyone leaves at the end, it looks like nobody was ever there. You're given three meal vouchers to use at any time at the onsite crew and staff catering tent, with a choice of two meal options (one being vegetarian) and a different selection of sides including a salad bar and unlimited fruit juice, tea and coffee. I had read that it would be important to take your own mug, plate and cutlery with you but this wasn't necessary in my experience, although I'm sure it differs from year-to-year and festival-to-festival. There were also plenty of showers provided which is a huge luxury although I never ventured over to them as I never really found a spare moment and it was just so muddy anyway!
I would absolutely recommend volunteering at a festival to anyone as a way to save money, earn a cool edition to your CV and just have a really great experience. I really felt like I saw right into the heart of the festival and I gained a lot of perspective about what goes on behind the scenes and just how many people it takes to make an event of this size go ahead. I'm not sure what my summer 2017 is going to look like just yet with my placement year looming but I would 100% consider returning to Leeds or perhaps another festival to volunteer my time to Oxfam. For anyone who might be interested in going to Glastonbury but knows they'll struggle to get a ticket, Oxfam is a great way to earn priority entry as long as you worked two festivals the summer before.
If you have anymore questions, Oxfam's website has a lot of info and I'd be happy to help where I can.
