I got free tickets to top UK festivals for YEARS with extra perks
TEENAGE years were often consumed by the excitement of planning which festival to go to, met by the disappointment of not being able to afford (or even able to get) a ticket.
Fortunately, there is a way to get free festival tickets even as a now-adult.
Volunteering might remind you of litter picking in parks, but it looks a whole lot different at festivals.
With Oxfam, you can volunteer across a number of different roles while getting a free ticket to the festival.
Having done a number of festivals with the charity I can safely say that it is a lot more fun than you’d think, AND you get other great perks as well.
The role with the most positions available is to be a steward – you’ll carry out a range of roles across three eight-and-a-quarter- hour shifts including checking tickets on the gate, patrolling campsites or the arena and staffing accessibility platforms.
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You will get all the training you need, as well as a meal voucher for every shift, free tea and coffee, crew camping (read, quieter campsites), hot showers and free phone charging.
Applications for the positions open in the new year and are served on a first-come first-served basis.
You will need to fork out the ticket price upfront but this essentially acts as a deposit to ensure you show up to your shifts – you will then get it back four weeks after the festival.
You will also need to be 18-years-old or over to volunteer by the time you arrive onsite.
Other roles include campaigning, which requires four, six-hour shifts ending before headline acts, and shop volunteers to run festival shops, with one six hour shift a day.
For the latter role, you will need to be a current shop volunteer, intern or member of Oxfam staff with at least three months of experience.
But in reality what does the work actually look like?
For my first festival, I volunteered at NASS although this sadly no longer runs.
As a smaller festival in the UK, I was only required to do two shifts and these both consisted of checking tickets into the festival – one on arrival day and another for second day arrivals.
It meant I missed NOTHING – not a single act.
Both my shifts were finished before music even started, which meant I had enough time to nip back to the spacious campsite with hot showers and freshen up before going and singing my heart out as Loyle Carner performed just metres from me.
The other festivals I volunteered at were much bigger and are household names – Boardmasters in Cornwall and Reading Festival.
Staff camping at Reading was a decent walk from the main arena and while that meant it was a bit of a pain to just ‘nip’ back to your tent, it did mean that I was away from ALL noise.
The campsite is spacious, peaceful, empty of drunken festivalgoers and has its own toilet block – which were actual toilets with no stench.
When I saw the toilets in the main campsites, I realised how appreciative I was of swapping some hours of my time for a free festival ticket.
I slept soundly each night with no thumping music or rowdy people around me.
As for my shifts at Reading, one of my three, eight-hour shifts was spent checking tickets on the first arrival day – before the festival had even properly started.
My second shift was patrolling campsites during the daytime, before any major acts were on.
And my third shift? Being right in the pit as Sea Girls played, handing out water to festival-goers.
None of these tasks, other than perhaps standing in the blazing sun, are strenuous and shift leaders are great at constantly making sure you have water as well as regular time in the shade if your shift involves being in the direct sun.
What is volunteering at Glastonbury like?
DEPUTY Travel Editor, Kara Godfrey has previously volunteered at Glastonbury Festival with Oxfam and here are her thoughts:
I am not a festival-goer – camping on the cold hard ground, traipsing through the inevitable mud and don’t get me started on refusing to use anything other than a standard, private bathroom.
And then being made to pay at least £400 just to be allowed in the gates? I never saw the appeal.
However, when I did work Glastonbury with Oxfam, I was very much converted.
Early access, so a more laidback first day without the huge crowds, three meals a day without having to pay extortionate amounts, and, of course, much nicer toilets and showers.
Being able to charge my phone and have a much quieter campsite – it felt like glamping without the cost.
The only downside was the shift patterns. I was on ticket checking duty, and you had to do a day, afternoon and overnight shift.
You in theory could swap with people, but good luck trying when there was a big performer (I was there the year of Dolly Parton).
But as long as you aren’t going just for one act, I had the best time hanging with my fellow Oxfam crew as we played our own party tunes at the entrance, shared snacks – and laughed our heads off at all the men dressed up as good ol’ Dolly herself.
Oh, and it barely cost me a penny once my ticket costs rolled back into my bank account. Win win!
Across these three shifts I only missed one act I wanted to see.
And last but not least, Boardmasters was a similar story – one of my three eight-hour shifts was spent checking tickets before the festival began, another was a day shift campsite patrolling and the third was an overnight campsite shift.
Again, with these I missed no acts I wanted to see and while the final overnight shift was tiring (and cold), it involved standing and sitting at the entrance to a campsite answering questions… hardly hard work.
Across all shifts you get a half hour break as well as a meal token which you can use at selected vendors across the festival.
These often include gourmet burger joints and pizza vans, so there is plenty of choice.
Depending on what festival you are at, you might get actual shower and toilet blocks too, a communal area on your campsite and quite often other goodies like free Coca-Cola from brand sponsors walking the festival ground.
There are other companies and charities you can go through for festivals too, such as Hotbox Events, My Cause UK and Festaff.
Though, I wouldn’t look further than Oxfam – everyone is there to have a good time and thanks to not having to pay a penny and camping with more space, I’d say I was happier than most paying festivalgoers each time I volunteered.
