Volunteering 2025

[Pinhead]

So reading it it's actually about there being too many priority stewards returning to Glastonbury and they've identified that this is the primary festival for recruitment into their ranks so want more general applications coming in.

[Pinhead]

How easy is it to get a place in the general steward applications when they open? Anyone with experience?

[Pinhead]

Still looks like I'll likely still get enough points for a Glasto priority option though in 2027 after it's break in 2026 as long as I do two 4 day festivals with them?

[Pinhead]

It's all very complex isn't it though! I mean the previous system was complex enough, but this...!

[Chazwozza]

2 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

How easy is it to get a place in the general steward applications when they open? Anyone with experience?

Well I got in easily enough as a complete newbie in 2019, not sure if it helped that I also volunteered for a second festival at the same time. I think I kept an eye on the website so I could bring in my application at the first opportunity.

[efcfanwirral]

20 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

Helpful to have the clarification. For Glasto 2027 you'll "likely" need 9 points made up from 2025 and 2026. 

So two non Glastonbury camping festivals and three day over the two years. 

 

Like I said before it only becomes really unfair ( in my eyes) when applying for glasto 2028 if you did it in 27, but that's so far away. 

Hang on why would you need 9 for 2027? Have I missed something on the updated website? It just says 6 the year before for priority, and as Glastonbury isn't involved surely 6 points next summer will do the trick?

[philipsteak]

19 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

So reading it it's actually about there being too many priority stewards returning to Glastonbury and they've identified that this is the primary festival for recruitment into their ranks so want more general applications coming in.

 

That would've made sense a few years ago but the last couple of years loads of festivals filled up way earlier than they used to. 

[philipsteak]

19 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

So reading it it's actually about there being too many priority stewards returning to Glastonbury and they've identified that this is the primary festival for recruitment into their ranks so want more general applications coming in.

 

That would've made sense a few years ago but the last couple of years loads of festivals filled up way earlier than they used to. 

[kerplunk]

13 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

Hang on why would you need 9 for 2027? Have I missed something on the updated website? It just says 6 the year before for priority, and as Glastonbury isn't involved surely 6 points next summer will do the trick?

 

See the Faq How do I get Priority for when sign-ups open in 2027?

[oakdown]

Pretty bummed out about the new priority rules personally. I've done 1-2 festivals a year since 2016 with Oxfam so was looking forward to just doing Glastonbury (and maybe the occasional Boomtown) going forward and taking advantage of the '7 fests in 7 years' system. I understand their reasoning but considering travel down from Scotland and limited annual leave, it's just not feasible for me to do Glasto plus another fest from that list every single year anymore. What a shame

Edited February 3, 2025 by oakdown

[Leyrulion]

30 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

Hang on why would you need 9 for 2027? Have I missed something on the updated website? It just says 6 the year before for priority, and as Glastonbury isn't involved surely 6 points next summer will do the trick?

They've given an early indication of the rules for 2027, might change but right now they indicating you'd need to have 9 but earned over 2025 and 2026. 

[Leyrulion]

44 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

It's all very complex isn't it though! I mean the previous system was complex enough, but this...!

 

47 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

How easy is it to get a place in the general steward applications when they open? Anyone with experience?

 

Places in general go within like 30 seconds. It's so fast. 

 

I hear the complexity! I already have a note on my phone tracking the festivals I've done and what my priority would be in the future. Might have to upgrade it to a spreadsheet to calculate it all! 

[efcfanwirral]

50 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

How easy is it to get a place in the general steward applications when they open? Anyone with experience?

Not easy, but two of us got through on the early May one last year

[efcfanwirral]

24 minutes ago, kerplunk said:

 

See the Faq How do I get Priority for when sign-ups open in 2027?

 

7 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

They've given an early indication of the rules for 2027, might change but right now they indicating you'd need to have 9 but earned over 2025 and 2026. 

Thanks. Is everyone else reading that as "you can do all 9 points in 2026"?

[StoneCircle]

28 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

 

That would've made sense a few years ago but the last couple of years loads of festivals filled up way earlier than they used to. 

 

They struggled to fill Shindig last year though, then offered volunteers a guaranteed Glastonbury place if they also volunteered for Shindig. Perhaps they want to keep this option open in future by holding some Glastonbury places back to ensure they have a carrot to dangle to fill the less popular festivals? 

[Leyrulion]

20 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

 

Thanks. Is everyone else reading that as "you can do all 9 points in 2026"?

Yeah that's how I read it. 

[philipsteak]

15 minutes ago, StoneCircle said:

 

They struggled to fill Shindig last year though, then offered volunteers a guaranteed Glastonbury place if they also volunteered for Shindig. Perhaps they want to keep this option open in future by holding some Glastonbury places back to ensure they have a carrot to dangle to fill the less popular festivals? 

 

Maybe. 

I mean they must've given it a lot of thought but it seems a bit short sighted on some ways. 

I know a few people who've done it for years, often a few in a year in the past, but for legitimate reasons can only commit to Glastonbury these days. Loads of experience, all supervisors and above, reliable, but will probably not be there in the future.

[Pinhead]

28 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

They've given an early indication of the rules for 2027, might change but right now they indicating you'd need to have 9 but earned over 2025 and 2026. 

They say: "Accrued 6 points in the previous year
(2025)" (for 2026)

Is there anything that says this is will change for 2027 - can't see that bit anywhere?

[Pinhead]

4 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

 

Maybe. 

I mean they must've given it a lot of thought but it seems a bit short sighted on some ways. 

I know a few people who've done it for years, often a few in a year in the past, but for legitimate reasons can only commit to Glastonbury these days. Loads of experience, all supervisors and above, reliable, but will probably not be there in the future.

Yeah I mean I'm not a student with all summer to sign up for, not unemployed, not retired and not running my own business meaning I can pick my leave time at leasure. I do a 9-5, 7 days a week like many and can only therefore really afford to work a max of 2 a year. I have been stewarding with Ox for 20 years and now all that experience seems irrelevant - perhaps now being younger and more flexible is....

[kerplunk]

2 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

Yeah I mean I'm not a student with all summer to sign up for, not unemployed, not retired and not running my own business meaning I can pick my leave time at leasure. I do a 9-5, 7 days a week like many and can only therefore really afford to work a max of 2 a year. I have been stewarding with Ox for 20 years and now all that experience seems irrelevant - perhaps now being younger and more flexible is....

 

You only need to do 3 x 3-dayers across 2025/26 to get priority for 2027

[Pinhead]

38 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

They've given an early indication of the rules for 2027, might change but right now they indicating you'd need to have 9 but earned over 2025 and 2026. 

How do you plan for a rule change each year 😆 Don't they know that people often have to plan ahead for availability months, even years in advance sometimes for things like this! A constantly moving goalpost seems very cynical. And as I predicted earlier in this topic above, all dumped on us less than 24h before priority is open giving us very little time to plan ahead, especially if it's interpreted as needing to have to include 2025 and 2026 just to qualify for 2027...

[efcfanwirral]

11 minutes ago, kerplunk said:

 

You only need to do 3 x 3-dayers across 2025/26 to get priority for 2027

that only works if you can take the time off and stay in a hotel (for day gigs which I read this as, which I don't think you meant on second reading!). If you don't live in London or Cardiff (or the very small areas around Lytham) that's 3x hotels + time off. That is an option now it seems vs having to do 3 camping ones?

 

But 2 full festivals in one summer basically means no other festivals and perhaps holidays. Its a big time drain

Edited February 3, 2025 by efcfanwirral

[Pinhead]

7 minutes ago, kerplunk said:

 

You only need to do 3 x 3-dayers across 2025/26 to get priority for 2027

Is that 3 days of the official festival, or does it include the point of arrival for Oxfam briefing, and the often day before events kick off for punters to arrive...

 

What do they define a 3 dayer as - I am assuming ones like Beautiful Days, Shambala, Boomtown (always best not to assume though!)

Edited February 3, 2025 by Pinhead

[ancient_one]

I jumped on the "Shindig + Glastonbury" offer last year, so I have priority tomorrow. But now I will need to do Glasto + 2 others to keep priority for 2026. Or just do Glasto + 1 this year, lose priority for 2026, and hope I can get into 2 that year to go again for 2027. 

This is like thinking five moves ahead in chess ...

But I suspect a lot of experienced stewards who have been doing Glasto + 1 for a few years will be lost if they can't spare the time to do an extra one each year (or live close enough to the 1-day venues).

Edited February 3, 2025 by ancient_one

[Leyrulion]

25 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

They say: "Accrued 6 points in the previous year
(2025)" (for 2026)

Is there anything that says this is will change for 2027 - can't see that bit anywhere?

"After a Glastonbury fallow year, we calculate priority slightly differently. It's likely that to have priority access when we open our applications in 2027, you'll need to have either:

 

Accrued 9 points in the previous two year (2025-2026)

Accrued 21 points in the previous 7 years (2020-2026)"

 

It's under the faq here

https://festivals.oxfam.org.uk/info/priority/

 

I agree with everyone that it's a bit too much like 3D chess right now trying to figure out a Glastonbury back up.

Possibly time to consider switching to someone else tbh.