What are our volunteering roles like?

Shift Patterns

As a volunteer steward at weekend camping festivals, you'll complete 3 x 8¼-hour shifts.

Most festivals require 24-hour cover, so shift patterns typically include a mix of mornings, afternoons, and overnight shifts. We work hard to ensure everyone has a mix of shift times, and no one has more than one overnight shift per festival*.

The exact shift times will vary from festival to festival. For example, at Glastonbury most shifts start at 05:45, 13:45, or 21:45, whereas at Leeds the majority of shifts start at 07:45, 15:45, or 23:45.

What’s Involved

We undertake a wide variety of different stewarding roles across different festivals. Some of our more common roles include checking tickets, wristbanding, roaming in arenas and campsites, staffing accessibility platforms and fire towers, directing traffic, and monitoring venues.

All roles involve staying alert to your surroundings throughout the shift and lots of interaction with festivalgoers. Because of this, almost all roles need to be undertaken standing up (or from a wheelchair). Some roles involve patrolling around an area such as a campsite or venue. You can find out which roles we cover at each festival here.

Getting to and from shift

Our roles are located across the festival site, so getting to your shift may require traveling up to a few kilometres over typical English farmland terrain.

Festival-specific information about site layout, distances and terrain can be found here.

Breaks

On all stewarding shifts you are entitled to a 30 min break. The timing of your break can be arranged with your supervisor.

Working with others

While on shift, you’ll always be with or near someone else, usually another Oxfam volunteer.

Many of our roles involve working in groups or pairs, but you may occasionally work alongside someone from another team, such as security.

Receiving your shift patterns

Volunteer stewards will receive their shift schedules when arriving on site. Apologies, but we are unable to let you know your shifts in advance as we often need to re-arrange our rotas right up to the eleventh hour.

* There is one exception to this promise at Glastonbury.

Shift Patterns

Festival Campaigners each undertake 4 x 6hr shifts. These usually start around 11am each day of the festival, although the exact timings can differ a little.

What’s Involved

Campaigning is a high-energy role which involves interacting with festivalgoers throughout your shift. It is usually a roaming role, and you will need to cover quite a lot of ground around the festival site during a shift.

Occasionally you may also be based in an Oxfam space at the festival, talking to the public or running an activity.

Getting to and from shift

At each festival, campaigners will start and finish their shifts at a designated central meeting point. At the beginning of your shift, you'll gather here before heading out to roam the festival grounds. At the end of your shift, you'll return to the same meeting point to wrap up.

Working with others

Our campaigners always work in teams of at least two.

Shift Patterns

Festival Shop shifts are usually up to 6 hours long. You will have one shift each day of the festival, plus a shop setup shift before the festival, and take-down shift after the festival.

The shift timings rotate between mornings, afternoon, and evening shifts. The morning shifts normally start around 9am, and the evening shifts finish around 1am, but the exact timings can vary from festival to festival.

An example of a morning, afternoon and evening trading day shift pattern is: 9am – 3pm, 3pm – 9pm, 9pm – late.

What’s Involved

Each festival shop shift is quite varied and will involve a mix of tasks. These may include hanging clothes, visual merchandising, moving rails, organising the stock in the wagon, pricing, repairing, and processing transactions.

Working with others

In the festival shop you'll never be working on your own. There is always a team of volunteers working together in the shop in the shop.