Oxfam has announced details of its annual voluntary scheme at the Glastonbury Festival – meaning volunteers can attend the festival for free, in exchange for offering up some of their own time for the charity whilst on site.
Oxfam has been an official partner of Glastonbury since 1993, providing volunteers in stewarding, campaigning and shop volunteering roles. The charity also provides similar support to a host of other British festivals, and this year is looking for 8,500 volunteers for what it describes as its “biggest summer of festivals yet”.
Glastonbury is set to run from June 25 to July 1 2024, and tickets to this year’s event sold out within minutes. Although the Pyramid Stage headliners are yet to be announced, the rumor mill is already in overdrive, with names including Madonna, the Killers, Foo Fighters, AC/DC and Bruce Springsteen all in the mix.
Bruce Springsteen last headlined Glastonbury in 2009 - and is a hot favorite to return in 2024.
Oxfam volunteers at Glastonbury are required to complete three eight-hour shifts during the festival period – but beyond this, their time is their own, meaning they can enjoy the music with all the other (paying) revelers.
The charity says: “Oxfam Festival volunteering is a fantastic way to attend your favorite festivals, see some amazing acts, make new friends all whilst supporting Oxfam's work to end extreme poverty around the world.
“You can choose to be a steward providing directions to the festival-going public, checking wristbands, or patrolling campsites and arenas. A campaigner engaging with the public about Oxfam’s work or volunteering in one of our shops providing festival-goers with the latest fashions donated by our amazing supporters.”
In exchange for duties including stewarding, volunteers stay in a dedicated campsite with showers, toilets and hot water.
In exchange for their time spent working, Oxfam promises, “a dedicated campsite ‘the Oxfield’ with showers and toilets, 24/7 hot water and meal tickets. You’ll also get all the training you need, crew camping, a meal voucher for every shift, hot showers, free tea and coffee, and phone charging.
“You are supporting the festival with the smooth running of the event. In return for providing volunteers to a festival, Oxfam receives funds which help us in our work fighting against poverty.”
As well as their partnership with Worthy Farm, Oxfam is also seeking volunteers for a range of other festivals across the UK this summer, including 2000 Trees, Arctangent, Bearded Theory, Beautiful Days, Boardmasters, Boomtown Fair, Download, Isle Of Wight, Latitude, Reading & Leeds, Shambala, Wilderness, and WOMAD.
Tickets have already sold out.
Quoted on the Oxfam website, longstanding volunteer Desmond, who has worked at 104 festivals over 19 years for the charity, said: “It’s something that gets infectious because once you do it once or twice you really appreciate all of the benefits and the fun that you can have. It’s a really great community to work with. It’s very inclusive. There are people of all ages and different backgrounds… it keeps me young.”
Applications are open from Thursday February 1, with places allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Click here for more information and to sign up to volunteer at this year’s events.
