Volunteering - at a price !

[marooned]

Anyone noticed that Volunteers at EOTR 2011 will be asked for a refundable £50 deposit.

I don't blame Sue Torres after 2010's fiasco when (apparently) one in four of the signed up volunteers didn't turn up - most of them without even giving a decent warning!!

I blame the unwashed student element (joke!) but I'd imagine that finding 50quid - albeit paid back on shift completion - will prove a problem to some......

[RedRockRick]

Anyone noticed that Volunteers at EOTR 2011 will be asked for a refundable £50 deposit.

I don't blame Sue Torres after 2010's fiasco when (apparently) one in four of the signed up volunteers didn't turn up - most of them without even giving a decent warning!!

[marooned]

....yeah, and it was a shambolic mess when they DID turn up, but that ain't the point !!

[Paul ™]

Pretty much the standard practice for most festivals now, sadly too many people feel it is ok to let others down when it comes to stewarding.

Not only does it put the others who are working under more pressure, but it also puts the festival in a very awkward place when it comes to licencing etc

[marooned]

It's the ONLY festival that I'm stewarding that is implementing this practice - perhaps I'm just lucky, as well as being trustworthy!

[Paul ™]

More and more seem to do it each year, and more seem to bring in outside agencies to organise the festivals stewards.

Out of interest, what other festivals are you stewarding at?

[marooned]

Wychwood and the 'original' Larmer Tree Festival....

[Paul ™]

All events stewarded by Wicked Events then, hopefully they continue to do it on a trust basis then for you

[Neville Street]

we took some hitch hikers with us to EOTR and they volunteered to work on the spot on the Thursday evening when we got there and were working within 2 hours. They were reliable and did a very antisocial nightshift on the Friday night (basically it was something like 1am Saturday to 9am Saturday). They were students, but didn't fit the stereotype I guess. They did say the steward organisers were getting frustrated at other people just not turning up so I guess deposits are inevitable.

I had been down to steward but was lucky enough to be able to afford a ticket in the end and when I contacted the stewarding people (in July I think it was) they were delighted as they had a waiting list of people wanting to steward EOTR.

Tix already booked for this year