Volunteering 2020

[funkychick2007]

This is turning into a find the crew bar photo thread! Love the idea! People have great creativity! This could be the team task next year! 

[Mark E. Spliff]

The Workers Beer Company crew bar is the cheapest out of all of them by a country mile, but I have never spent any time there.  It's too far out of the festival and it's just a big white tent with all the decorative charm of an operating theatre.  The best crew bar was Wally's, because it sold a mind-bending array of different high-quality drinks, and had a big fire-pit which people actually used in an inclusive,  down-to-earth (not up-its-own-arse secret piano bar) way.  I've had great times in loads of different crew bars since the demise of Wally's, but the bottom line is: it's down to your mind-state at the time and whatever mix of people happen to be in there when you visit.  Glastonbury, even behind the scenes, is still just a bunch of temporary visitors milling around for a week, so the best approach is to take it as you find it.  This year, I completely fell foul of this rule by wasting too much time searching for the mythical 'they sell Grimbergen!' bar in the Green Futures field, which I subsequently discovered wasn't there this year.  That time would have been better spent appreciating wherever we happened to be at that moment.

[glasto-worker]

On 10/29/2019 at 7:21 PM, Johnnyseven said:

Staff in The Green Room (T&C crew bar) claimed they had the cheapest crew drinks on site which I think were £3.50 a pint this year. Maceo's (Bloc9) crew bar was cheaper than public bars but not as cheap as The Green Room, £4.50 springs to mind but could be wrong as I tended to be a bit squiffy when I was in there.

WBC Crew bar a pint was £2.50 but its only open to WBC Staff.

[marathonsteve]

13 hours ago, Mark E. Spliff said:

The Workers Beer Company crew bar is the cheapest out of all of them by a country mile, but I have never spent any time there.  It's too far out of the festival and it's just a big white tent with all the decorative charm of an operating theatre.  The best crew bar was Wally's, because it sold a mind-bending array of different high-quality drinks, and had a big fire-pit which people actually used in an inclusive,  down-to-earth (not up-its-own-arse secret piano bar) way.  I've had great times in loads of different crew bars since the demise of Wally's, but the bottom line is: it's down to your mind-state at the time and whatever mix of people happen to be in there when you visit.  Glastonbury, even behind the scenes, is still just a bunch of temporary visitors milling around for a week, so the best approach is to take it as you find it.  This year, I completely fell foul of this rule by wasting too much time searching for the mythical 'they sell Grimbergen!' bar in the Green Futures field, which I subsequently discovered wasn't there this year.  That time would have been better spent appreciating wherever we happened to be at that moment.

Your right it wasn't there this year much to the embarrassment of the bar manager who must have been asked dozens of times

Edited October 31, 2019 by marathonsteve
Words

[glasto-worker]

On 10/30/2019 at 10:59 AM, SecretFish said:

so each crew/volunteer has it's own bar (main ones)?    sounds very cliquey 

I know that some have replied before. 

It all depends where the bar is { there is loads of them } - if its in a specific crew camping area ' not shared by other Crews ' than its highly unlikely that any other Crews will be allowed to drink in there.

Why ? - these bars are selling alcohol at under trade price so for every pint sold ' they lose money ' so it would be crazy to let everyone in and then there is the Security issue.

In my crew Camp Security { hired by the WBC } will check a WBC Photo pass on entry and they will pull up anyone trying to leave without a pass so that makes the crew camping site a lot safer.

WBC crew camps - { I have lost count how many times we have moved } sometimes they are outside the wall and some people assume they can break into the festival not appreciating that ' they will be stopped as they leave ' - in 2009 { we were using the field that is now called - Bushy Ground } they must have caught at least 40 people a day who climbed over 2 walls { with their gear } only to discover that they were not inside the festival.

With no photo pass they were stuffed as they could not buy a drink { I run the crew bar and no one can buy if they don't have a pass } and they were being picked up by security and passed onto GFL Security.

sure there is other volunteers/workers who may share a common camping crew area and they may or may not have a Crew bar although highly unlikely the drinks are £2.50 a Pint.

The WBC used to allow other Crews in but sometime in the 90's there was a massive fight between off duty security workers about 4am/5am one morning Fighting each other and that screwed up that concession and ever since that ban has been in place there has not been another fight since.

[SecretFish]

41 minutes ago, glasto-worker said:

I know that some have replied before. 

It all depends where the bar is { there is loads of them } - if its in a specific crew camping area ' not shared by other Crews ' than its highly unlikely that any other Crews will be allowed to drink in there.

Why ? - these bars are selling alcohol at under trade price so for every pint sold ' they lose money ' so it would be crazy to let everyone in and then there is the Security issue.

In my crew Camp Security { hired by the WBC } will check a WBC Photo pass on entry and they will pull up anyone trying to leave without a pass so that makes the crew camping site a lot safer.

WBC crew camps - { I have lost count how many times we have moved } sometimes they are outside the wall and some people assume they can break into the festival not appreciating that ' they will be stopped as they leave ' - in 2009 { we were using the field that is now called - Bushy Ground } they must have caught at least 40 people a day who climbed over 2 walls { with their gear } only to discover that they were not inside the festival.

With no photo pass they were stuffed as they could not buy a drink { I run the crew bar and no one can buy if they don't have a pass } and they were being picked up by security and passed onto GFL Security.

sure there is other volunteers/workers who may share a common camping crew area and they may or may not have a Crew bar although highly unlikely the drinks are £2.50 a Pint.

The WBC used to allow other Crews in but sometime in the 90's there was a massive fight between off duty security workers about 4am/5am one morning Fighting each other and that screwed up that concession and ever since that ban has been in place there has not been another fight since.

What a comprehensive reply! Thank you. Sounds like WBC is the place to be !?

[jfaragher]

18 hours ago, March Hare said:

I liked this one, each bar has unique glasses as well. All part of the souvenir collection

 

They (tried to) charge me £3.50 (maybe £3?) for a half of coke in here on the Friday night.  I wasn't drinking because I had to be up at dawn to drive on site the next day, and so was on the softs.  A can of coke from the public bars was around £2.  I walked away...

[March Hare]

that’s really bad @jfaragher 

I don’t use the crew bars on the main weekend. Just as an option if everywhere else is rammed or, say on the Thursday night, I want a drink while the SE corners clears at 3am.  They are a plan b

[dondo]

On the Crew Bar front I really like Maceos & Tow and Hitch. Also like the Acoustic Stage one and used that a lot in 2016 to get respite from the rain/mud.  Heard that in 2019 though you needed specific crew passes once the festival kicked off properly

Heard good things about the John Peel one but never found that one.

 

[balti-pie]

We’re a fair while away from needing to organise this properly, but a Monday and/or Tuesday bar crawl of us lot would be a pretty good idea ??

[dondo]

12 hours ago, balti-pie said:

We’re a fair while away from needing to organise this properly, but a Monday and/or Tuesday bar crawl of us lot would be a pretty good idea ??

Yes- I joined one this year on the Glasto Workers FB page which was good fun

Edited November 1, 2019 by dondo

[jfaragher]

12 hours ago, balti-pie said:

We’re a fair while away from needing to organise this properly, but a Monday and/or Tuesday bar crawl of us lot would be a pretty good idea ??

Oxfam had a massive (~300 people) bar crawl on Monday night last year.  Though to be honest, nearly everyone is out on a Monday / Tuesday night, so I prefer to wander and see who I bump in to.

[jfaragher]

16 hours ago, March Hare said:

that’s really bad @jfaragher 

I don’t use the crew bars on the main weekend. Just as an option if everywhere else is rammed or, say on the Thursday night, I want a drink while the SE corners clears at 3am.  They are a plan b

Yeah, I popped in on my way between places, mainly because that road behind Shangri-la is a handy shortcut.  I was pretty shocked - I get that some of the crew bars are subsidising their costs etc, but this seemed particularly out of order, especially as I could get a pint of lager for not much more... 

[SecretFish]

I have been placed on reserve list for volunteering with Kiota. Fingers crossed someone drops out! (In a nice way)

[Crazyfool01]

15 minutes ago, SecretFish said:

I have been placed on reserve list for volunteering with Kiota. Fingers crossed someone drops out! (In a nice way)

who are they ? what do they do ? 

[March Hare]

Kiota and other litter picking deets

https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/worthy-causes/our-litter-picker-charities/

[Crazyfool01]

3 minutes ago, March Hare said:

Kiota and other litter picking deets

https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/worthy-causes/our-litter-picker-charities/

Thanks .. Id not heard of them before  

[SecretFish]

Seems like they beat me the answer @crazyfool1

 

[Crazyfool01]

11 minutes ago, SecretFish said:

Seems like they beat me the answer @crazyfool1

 

cheers anyway ... its a dilemma ... to work or not to work ? 

[SecretFish]

5 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

cheers anyway ... its a dilemma ... to work or not to work ? 

I'd rather get a ticket in the traditional way but if it's work or not go, there's only one winner?

[Crazyfool01]

1 minute ago, SecretFish said:

I'd rather get a ticket in the traditional way but if it's work or not go, there's only one winner?

yep true  

[March Hare]

I got sucked into working in 2019. Now locked in a terrible cycle of always working (as two festivals give you priority with Oxfam- Glasto counts as one of the two). You work to guarantee the next year’s entry.  Then they give you lovely camping, food, showers, early access. Then you don’t want tickets as you may as well keep working. 

I can’t escape ?

[balti-pie]

2 hours ago, March Hare said:

I got sucked into working in 2019. Now locked in a terrible cycle of always working (as two festivals give you priority with Oxfam- Glasto counts as one of the two). You work to guarantee the next year’s entry.  Then they give you lovely camping, food, showers, early access. Then you don’t want tickets as you may as well keep working. 

I can’t escape ?

? snap, they’ve lured me in too! 

[stuie]

7 hours ago, March Hare said:

I got sucked into working in 2019. Now locked in a terrible cycle of always working (as two festivals give you priority with Oxfam- Glasto counts as one of the two). You work to guarantee the next year’s entry.  Then they give you lovely camping, food, showers, early access. Then you don’t want tickets as you may as well keep working. 

I can’t escape ?

 

4 hours ago, balti-pie said:

? snap, they’ve lured me in too! 

I didn’t even try for a ticket this year. My mates have theirs but those 2 extra days on the farm are bloody brilliant! 

[philipsteak]

5 hours ago, stuie said:

 

I didn’t even try for a ticket this year. My mates have theirs but those 2 extra days on the farm are bloody brilliant! 

I was thinking about what I'd do if I won a ticket from Waterstones. As nice as it'd be not having to work and miss bands I want to see, I'd genuinely be gutted to miss the Monday and Tuesday.