Festivals- Beautiful Days!!

Dear followers!

So here, finally, is the last of the festivals I stewarded at over the summer with Oxfam.

Going to this festival was purely by chance, as I only initially wanted to steward at a couple. As it so happened, my friend got in contact with me and said that many of the volunteers had dropped out at the last minuet, and was I free this weekend?

Beautiful Days is another smallish festival held near Ottery St.Mary in Devon, it only took me an hour to travel there! It is also known at the Levellers festival, as they perform there every year.

The protocol was pretty much the same for any festival, although, after Glade and WOMAD, Beautiful Days was somewhere in the middle. There were drugs, but not on the scale of Glade, and it was a family orientated festival, but again, not on the scale of WOMAD.

My shifts were on the disabled platform on the main stage section. I was really pleased about this, it meant I got to see all the main bands! I had been very lucky through all the work sites I got over the three festival, as they had been all on the main site, and not stuck halfway up a fire tower!

Here's a couple of photos below of my work station and the layout of the festival site before any of the festival goer's arrived!

Here are a couple of the main stage area. The disabled platform is the white tent thing facing the main stage. The platform is elevated about the crowd, so the festival goer's on the platform can see the bands without standing up.
Below, hopefully, are some videos of the festival site!

Here is a video of the main stage being built and the view from the main stage around some of the site.

Here is the site the day before the festival started.

The main duties of a steward working on the disabled platform, whether it is a covered tent area, or open are as follows: (managing accessible viewing platforms)

- These are primarily for festival goers with mobility issues. Their carers may accompany the user onto the platform if space allows, but should be asked to stand beside the platform, if space is needed for other disabled users.

- Children should not be allowed to climb on the structure of the platform or play on the ramps.

- Photographers and camera people do not have access.

- Do not allow your platform to become overcrowded. When controlling access, be aware of how you will evacuate your viewing platform in an emergency.

- Do not allow access to off duty staff or stewards.

1st Shift: My first shift was on the Friday night, the first evening of the festival, from 6pm to 2am. When I arrived, there were already some disabled persons on the platform waiting until the music began. I had already been around the site earlier and found out where the toilets/water point etc where, in case I got asked. I was told that any disabled persons that wished to view the music from the platform, had to have the relevant pass to do so. Any that did not have the pass were not allowed up. The only problem I had with this was, I had a clearly disabled lady wanting to use the platform, but she did not have a pass. I suggested that she go to the box office and request a disabled pass. She replied she had already done that and the office was closed until the next morning. In this instance, I ha to use my discretion and allowed her onto the platform. She was clearly disabled, but if the office was closed, there wasn't much that could be done.

Apart from this, the rest of the shift was ver quiet. The atmosphere here was far different then WOMAD or Glade. It was more laid back and easy going. No-one was causing any trouble (yet!) and the persons on the disabled platform were very friendly. I did have the odd person come to the platform asking if he could take a photo from the platform, and because it wasn't crowded I let them. They say the first shift always goes the fastest, and in no time it was 2am.

2nd and 3rd Shift's: My next two shifts were at the same time each day, 10am till 6pm, on Saturday and Sunday. This was good for me as I had made friends with the person's who had been using t heplatform the night previously, so they didn't need to show their pass's as I already knew them. The only low point about both of these shifts was that, because the music on the main stage didnt start till midday, there was nothing to do but to guard the platform from anyone wanting to come onto it- which no-one did! After that, for 6 hours, we just stayed on the platform and enjoyed the music!

Here is a video of the Dark Morris, who decided to perform right where the disabled platform was. The Dark Morris are a Traditonal Cornish troop. Where you have morris dancers in red, yellow and green, the dark morris are the 'darker' side of morris dancing!

Below are some photos of yours truly on my disabled platform:

Here is a video of Hawkwind playing. The sound quality is not that good, but I wanted to show you part of the light show they had while playing. A sequence like this would take a long time to get programmed into the tech system for the performance.

In conclusion:

Although I initially said that Glade was the best festival I had stewarded at, Beatuiful Days would have to come in joint first! Maybe it was because I had already done 2 festivals and knew what to expect of myself in terms of doing my job well, or maybe it was the whole atmosphere of the festival. Either way, stewarding for Oxfam, I have learned much about myself, how I handle situations involving confrontation and how logical my thinking is! I have made some good connections and will be invloved in stewarding next year!

NB: If you have enjoyed reading these blogs about the stewarding, and fancy giving it a go, the Oxfam website: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/stewarding/index.html this will take you directly to the page for stewards!

Keep smiling

Ruby Foxglove x x x