Camping at festivals

No, you have to bring your own tent, and all the other camping equipment you will need, including a mug, plate, knife and fork etc. as these will not be provided. But there are showers!

Make sure you have clothes suitable for both extremes of weather. Incase its wet and cold, bring a raincoat, wellies and a warm jumper. Incase its the opposite, a sunhat and sunscreen is a good idea. We will provide legionnaires caps where needed. Essentially, be prepared for the best and the worst weather during the same shift. And bring spare socks! If you're driving, to leave a full set of dry clothes in your car for when you leave. You could be really grateful for them, especially the warm, dry socks.

Bring some good footwear. You need to bring good solid shoes, boots or wellies to work in, as flip flops or high heels are not suitable! Remember if you're on a shift that starts at 2pm, it will be very cold by 10pm when it finishes.

You will be given one meal ticket per shift you work, i.e three meal tickets. These will be redeemable at a specific caterer, generally crew catering provided by either the festival or Oxfam.

Please be aware that you will be allocated with festival specific meal tickets, and the caterer will be contracted to accept meal tickets for only the specified festival. In some cases, caterers may accept unused meal tickets from a previous festival, but this is on a festival-to-festival basis and should not be relied upon.

We aim to cater for both meat eaters and vegetarians, and we also notify caterers of vegan numbers. At some festivals, meals are supplied as part of the contract, and at others Oxfam pays for stewards meals. Where Oxfam supplies the catering, there may be extenuating circumstances where only vegetarian catering is available.

We do our best to provide caterers who can supply good, healthy, sustainable, and above all, tasty meals with variety. If you want to recommend a caterer, please email details to stewards@oxfam.org.

There are always limitations on our camping space, so please only bring the size of tent that you really need and, if possible, share with your friends. Stewards who arrive late generally have a difficult time finding somewhere to camp, so please be considerate and don't take up too much space.

Gazebos, while being very sociable in one sense, are incredibly anti-social when it comes to taking up tent space. Campsite densities are becoming a real concern at festivals, so while they are not formally banned, they will be heavily discouraged, and you might be asked to take one down if there is no camping space for other people’s tents. We often provide social space - for example a marquee.

Oxfam provides secure stewards camping in a separate area away from the public camping. This will have showers and other facilities provided for our volunteers to use. Often (but not always) our crew caterers will be based in our camping area too. When volunteering with Oxfam you are required to camp in the Oxfam stewards camping area, rather than the public campsites. This is because the public camping areas have limited capacity for ticket holders, so crew and volunteers cannot take up this restricted space.

We do everything we can to make the Oxfam stewards camping area a secure, welcoming and friendly place, and we hope it will greatly enhance your experience at the festival.

If your friends or family are also Oxfam volunteers, you'll be able to camp together. If you're planning to go to the festival with public ticket holders, or people working for other organisations on site, they will not be able to camp in the Oxfam camping area, as these are secure areas requiring specific ID to get in. People wishing to bring children need to fill in a children’s form and check ticket arrangements for each festival. You'll experience difficulties if you travel to site with public ticket holders before the gates are open, as public ticket holders will not have early access to festival sites.

Yes. If you choose to camp in public camping (once it is open) you will be able to access the Oxfam campsite(and facilities such as showers), but you will need to show your Oxfam ID to gain entry. Any friends who are not volunteering for Oxfam will not be able to come in with you.

This varies from festival to festival. At some festivals live-in vehicles are allowed, but will be in the public campervan fields, at others they will be in the Oxfam or general staff camping. Please note: many festivals have strict rules to define a campervan so please do not expect to be able to just sleep in the back of a car or van in the campervan field. If you bring a caravan, you will be directed to park your car in a separate car park once you have parked up. You must tell us that you will be bringing a campervan or caravan in your online application so that we can order any relevant passes for you.

For more information about this, please select the specific festival in the Festivals area here.

There are items that some festivals restrict both ticket holders and crew from bringing onto site, such as glass bottles or gas cannisters. Please check the individual festival's website for more detailed information about restricted items.

ALL FESTIVALS WILL ENFORCE A NO DRUGS POLICY and anyone caught with illegal substances will be dealt with in line with festival policy. Please note that if you are evicted from site you will lose your deposit.

Check the website(s) of the festival(s) you are stewarding at to see their fires policy. Most festivals have a complete ban on fires, including bbqs and candle flares, others are ok with off the ground bbqs as long as they are only used for cooking and not piled with wood afterwards. Disposable (on the ground) bbqs are generally banned.

Most festivals are pet-free zones, so please do not bring animals on site. You will not be able to bring a pet into the car park for fear that they may be left in the car. The RSPCA are always on alert at festivals.