Hey everyone time for the first useful post!

OXFAM- OK so if you fancy getting into most of the bigger festivals free of charge then listen up! Oxfam stewardship is probably your best bet.
If your application is accepted then you will need to pay Oxfam the cost of one ticket which acts as a deposit, if you carry out your duties (which are usually 3 x 8hr throughout the festival) then they will fully refund you. Applicants need to be at least 18

These are their festival calender for 2007

Date	Festival
April
31st - 4th	Wychwood Festival - Cheltenham
June
19th - 24th	Glastonbury Festival - Pilton, Somerset
July
5th - 9th	Cornbury Festival
11th - 15th	Latitude festival
18th - 23rd	Glade festival
25th - 30th	WOMAD
August
9th - 13th	Summer Sundae weekend
15th - 20th	Green Man
22nd - 27th	Reading & Leeds carling weekends
September
13th - 17th	End of the Road

You can apply today for you position, I have a few friends who have tried this out and they love it after all you get a free festival, and any employer loves to see voluntary charity work on a CV. Heres the application form

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/stewarding/apply2007.html


Working The Beer Tent!

Every festival needs a beer tent and every bear tent needs you to pull those pints. The best company to go with is The Workers Beer Tent. They are a charity organisation so your hard work is rewarded with a free festival, a few free drinks and a healthy conscience! Shifts are about 6 hours long which leaves about half of the day free for music or whatever you kids get up to at festivals!

This year they operated at

Latitude, Reading and Leeds, Wireless, Hyde Park Calling, Foo Fighters at Hyde Park and quite a few others

Getting a job is difficult as you need to be registered with a charity to be eligible. Best to send them an e-mail [email protected]

official stewardship
Every festival needs someone to do the dirty work and they usually make it worth your while. The best strategy if you want to get involved is to get in touch with the organisers for the festival you like the look of! Meanfiddler.com is a good place to start but you may need to wait until festival season hots up again

Catering
This option is better paid than the rest but as a result you put more hours in so yo dont get as much of the festival as you might like. If you fancy a culinary based toil then find out which caterers are operating at your festival of choice and send them a CV they always need extra work so competition isn't fierce.

Charity Work
Festivals are fairly open to allowing major charities set up camp in order spread their word, ask for donations etc. The Samaritans nearly always have a tent at major festivals so give them a bell and offer your services, they send about 10-25 people to each festival depending on the size of the festival. If samaritans are no good (!) then try other charities but i would advise you find ones that you actually support so you stay interested.
To voluteer for the Samaritans write to: Bev Taylor
Secretary
Festival Branch of Samaritans
PO Box 1018
High Wycombe
HP15 7WX

or telephone 020 8391 0754

Or Email at [email protected]

Sponsership
Bit of a longshot this one but it can be pulled off! find a company which might have a target audience at any festival you plan to go to. Let them know what you are doing and offer to wear their brand name, hand out their flyers etc. in return for cash or a free ticket. Can't think of a company? put yourself on eBay and let them come to you! This requires the least effort but is the least reliable and you may well have to dress badly for a weekend!


Ok so thats your festival options, it may seem a bit late but places like oxfam and other employers are taking applications already and most charities like to see that you have helped them out before so a bit of effort now could pay off in the future

Let me know what you think

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