Shruti Uppal,
volunteer festival steward (24)
I decided to apply to steward at Glastonbury, since I’d worked at other festivals and had really enjoyed it, and have been an Oxfam supporter for a few years. Glastonbury being the mother of all festivals, it was definitely the most appealing one to volunteer at - especially since it went on for so long, so you are guaranteed of having a fair amount of your own time to enjoy it.
We were assigned to a vehicle gate which meant that we had to stop any pedestrians using the gate, while making sure that all vehicles that passed through had the right passes and knew where they were going. Although we were on the edge of the site, it was easy to keep ourselves amused (when not working) – the Oxfam crew regularly stopped by with tea for us all and we could see and hear the other stage from our post.
Highlights included listening to the Euro 2004 England versus Portugal match on a wind-up radio on our shift (while thousands of revellers watched it on the massive video-screens); two ‘clown’ policemen harassing one of the stewards, demanding they be let through the gate since they were law-enforcers (of the comedic variety); starting our all-nighter shift with the Chemical Brothers’ anthemic ‘Block-Rocking Beats’ and their accompanying laser show; single-handedly keeping the hot mini-donut stall in business for the entire four days; experiencing the full extent of what mother nature had to offer (sunburnt on the first day, wet, soggy and hypothermic on the last); and watching Belle and Sebastian on the final day in the driving rain while a rainbow decided to nestle itself onto the lead singer.
The whole experience was loads of fun – I would definitely recommend it! You get to meet lots of cool people, there’s so much to do at Glastonbury that you’ll never get bored, and it’s a really great atmosphere. What more could you ask for than to get into the greatest festival on Earth for free, while contributing to the really important work that Oxfam carries out? Not much I reckon.
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