Glastonbury Veteran

[gooner1990]

18 minutes ago, clarkete said:

Very true, @glasto-worker is a colossus who dwarfs most of us, in terms of years, experience and recollections. 

I wonder how many people bar Mr Eavis have attended every single one.

can’t be many. 

[Boomtowner]

54 minutes ago, Olshansky said:

my first was 04 and didn't make it back until 2010.  The amount of changes in that amount of time ... incredible.  I mean, there was no SE corner in 04.  I was gobsmacked 

Well there was the wonderful Lost Vagueness in the same area. I remember dropping the wife and kids back at the tent in Family camping and then heading up there for early morning shenanigans

[clarkete]

4 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

I wonder how many people bar Mr Eavis have attended every single one.

can’t be many. 

No, at a basic level it's a long time to be alive

[alframsey]

I voted 10+ and think you need a proper difficult, biblical one in there too.

Personally, I’ve been to almost everyone since I was born in 1990 (parents and uncle/aunt thought it was every one since birth but worked it out me I missed two in the 90s). A lot of those I was young and only one I really went out on my own was around 2007. Of course I remember most of the ones when I was a kid and many happy memories. I’d say I know the festival very well and it’s part of my life and make up of my year, I’ve never been good at planning for it well though. I’d say I have that ‘Glastonbury Spirit’ though which comes with attending for many consecutive years, that get on with it no matter what. Akin to the blitz spirit but without the bombs…

I’ve never ever worked the festival though, not once. In the 90s I’ve memories of sneaking under, over and through the fence. Very chaotic but interesting times as a child with interesting and chaotic parents and family to go with.

I love it, I’d never change a thing about going.

We all have that bug don’t we? Those days, spent in those fields, spent with thousands of other people with a shared soul that week, they change you and make you a better and stronger person. I truly believe that.

[Sawdusty surfer]

16 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

I wonder how many people bar Mr Eavis have attended every single one.

can’t be many. 

Hank, who used to run the bin painting crew.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Sawdusty surfer

[Walter Sobchak]

I will have been to 10 after this year inc 2007 & 2016 and I don’t think I’m quite at veteran level.  
 

maybe after another 4 or 5 festivals

[Punksnotdead]

2 hours ago, plot2pot said:

I got in for free pre-fence in 2000 - but then again so did pretty much everyone else!

I was jobless and homeless in 2000 & decided to go on the Thursday morning with £30 in my pocket. I jibbed the train there. Then patrolled the fence to look for a way in. A group of scousers had pulled one of the fence panels to one side and were charging £5 to let people through. I said no and looked for another way. After a while, I realised there was no way I would be able to scale the fence on my own, so I went back to the scousers to pay the fiver. They then told me it was now £10, so I told them to fuck off. I then noticed that every 20 minutes, a security guard came round & the scousers scattered for a few minutes. I waited until next time this happened & legged it through the hole, chased by the security guard.

I didn't drink at the festival and ate for free at the hare Krishna tent. I spent about £7 at the whole festival, mostly on fags & rizlas for the weed I took with me.

Not quite a twix story I admit, but I'm quite proud I did it so cheap!

[Olshansky]

I'd be honored to work the festival some year, but you need to have "right to work" status for the UK, which as an American I don't have.  

[sedra]

Have done 20 and this year will be 21st and 5 decades!! First in for free on Sunday only  ( 84) survived 97, 98, 2005,2007,2016 plus the hot ones.  Have camped every time. I think I count as a veteran by now!

[Sawdusty surfer]

19 minutes ago, Olshansky said:

I'd be honored to work the festival some year, but you need to have "right to work" status for the UK, which as an American I don't have.  

If you find the right crew you'll be able to get a ticket,be onsite for a week or three, get fed for the duration and be a part of the show.Possibly extra benefits as well.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Sawdusty surfer

[Olshansky]

3 minutes ago, Sawdusty surfer said:

If you find the right crew you'll be able to get a ticket,be onsite for a week or three, get fed for the duration and be a part of the show.Possibly extra benefits as well.

an absolute dream if you ask me. 

I ended up with a production ticket through T&C in 2019, but before that luck came through, I looked into volunteering and all the areas required right verification even to volunteer.  It makes sense, but I was bummed.  

[Neville Street]

4 hours ago, incident said:

I reckon the criteria should be at least 10, including:
- at least one properly muddy year (only 2007 and 2016 count as that in the last 20 years)
- at least one pre-superfence year
- at least once working it

So I'll never qualify because I can't go back in time to before the fence went up.

Wow! I actually meet the criteria 🙂 

2022 is 15th for me, 1987 was first, 89,90 then long gap to 2007, then all since then, including working pot washing in crew catering one year, and general dogsbody in Police catering one year. 1987 was wet before the festival and pretty muddy (arrived on back of a friends motorcycle, tricky), also 1990 had mud but also sun. 2007 was first time for Mrs NS and I thought she’d never come back with the weather, but loved it and has only missed one since.

[hurdy]

Almost fit the criteria but just need two more to meet double figures, had a huge gap after my first couple - but my first pre super fence experience was going with my mate who was a wheelchair user in 1992. Blagged a medical vehicle pass from a doctor in a pub near Pilton on the Thursday which  let us park next to the Pyramid, pretty much where the Water Aid point is on the left now. 

Can't see that happening now... 

Edited April 5, 2022 by hurdy

[incident]

1 hour ago, Olshansky said:

I'd be honored to work the festival some year, but you need to have "right to work" status for the UK, which as an American I don't have.  

This isn't the thread to go into the specifics, but someone entering the country on a standard visitor visa (or waiver), does have the right to volunteer within certain conditions. Some organisations (including Oxfam) will happily take you on that basis. Some others will go with the stricter right to work criteria.

[stuartbert two hats]

2 hours ago, Sawdusty surfer said:

Hank, who used to run the bin painting crew.

Used to? Has he retired? He was still painting bins when I camped last August?

[Heather90]

This will be my 4th. I feel kind of confident I know what to expect and where the main things are. I'm still nowhere near a veteran though! 

I love meeting people who've been going decades!

[Smeble]

6 hours ago, incident said:

I reckon the criteria should be at least 10, including:
- at least one properly muddy year (only 2007 and 2016 count as that in the last 20 years)
- at least one pre-superfence year
- at least once working it

So I'll never qualify because I can't go back in time to before the fence went up.

 I’ve only been to 3 but the first 2 were 2007 and 2016

cant go back in time

i was on site after the 2015 festival collecting fencing, I was getting paid, so I’ve ‘worked’ it😂😂

just another 6 to go after this year.

[Spindles]

I voted 2 makes you a veteran,  because I don't set the bar too high.  I'm in double figures and old enough to keep saying "this will be the last time" until I get to Sunday evening and the thought of not returning seems insane.

I've never worked though.  I was going to in 2014 but it all fell through at the last minute and that's the only festival I've missed in recent years.  I got to experience the festival before the superfence (and the huge expansion of the site since then) and am happy to have successfully bunked my way in, which makes for a nice memory but the best years for me have been in the last decade or so.  2010, 2013, 2015,2017 and 2019 all stand out as absolutely magnificent years where the festival gods shone down on us and everything went great.

It's going to be great to be back there, it's going to be a massively emotional gathering for us I think, back as a huge swarming collective for a few days in June, all motivated by the idea of having the best time we can together.  I look forward to being surrounded again by you beautiful bastards and hope you have the time of your fucking lives.

[mazola]

This will be my 11th, I reckon 4 or so makes you a veteran.

Or how ever many it takes until you walk through the gates and feel like you have returned home.

[Kizzie]

12 hours ago, incident said:

I reckon the criteria should be at least 10, including:
- at least one properly muddy year (only 2007 and 2016 count as that in the last 20 years)
- at least one pre-superfence year
- at least once working it

 

I'm a Veteran 🙂

[Neil]

15 hours ago, incident said:

This has been done a million times before before but not relative to 2007 and 2016 - neither were an endurance test in the same way. 2004 was muddy in places throughout, but nowhere near as deep or as pervasive. 2005 was really bad, briefly, but pretty much only for about a day and a half - the site dried out quickly (helped by the weather being properly fantastic aside from that one overnight storm) and you could safely wander around in Trainers on the Sunday.

you're fprgetting 1998 and 1999, both horific for mud.

[Punksnotdead]

4 minutes ago, Neil said:

you're fprgetting 1998 and 1999, both horific for mud.

I think you mean 97 and 98 - 99 was fine if I remember correctly?

[incident]

10 minutes ago, Neil said:

you're fprgetting 1998 and 1999, both horific for mud.

I'm not - I just wasn't there so was only talking last 20 years.

[Neil]

5 minutes ago, Punksnotdead said:

I think you mean 97 and 98 

you're right. a true veteran has too many years to get it right.

[maelzoid]

It's not the number, but the years. Anyone who was there in the 90s or earlier is a vet in my book.