Posts Tagged ‘“summer volunteering”’
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By vJoe 28th June 12
Fancy doing something different this summer?
Oxfam recruit over 5000 volunteers a year to support the UK’s best festivals.
We spoke to Malorie Perry, 23 about how she got hooked on stewarding at festivals with Oxfam…
‘I first stumbled across festival stewarding 4 years ago when I was browsing the Oxfam website looking for volunteering opportunities. Being a penniless student at the time, an avid gig go-er and looking to do something for charity, this seemed perfect.
My first festival was Glastonbury, where Oxfam provide some 2000-plus stewards. I thought I would go by myself in an attempt to build my confidence and meet new people, I soon learnt that there are actually a lot of lone stewards, but you are certainly not lone for very long. It is so easy to get involved and everyone is so welcoming. At my first festival I met a lovely group of people and we have stewarded together every year since.
People of all background and ages
Volunteering-wise, all roles I have done involve the public, from checking tickets at the VIP vehicle gate at Glastonbury to wrist-banding at Download. Alongside loving the voluntary stuff, at every festival there is such a variety of stewards, experienced, new, young, old, children are even welcome to come along with their parents. My Mum is even hooked on Womad!
Admittedly the thought of three eight hour shifts in the rain did not exactly sound like a ball but I soon learnt that the shifts are loads of fun and add to the overall festival experience. Oxfam are always on hand with cups of tea in the pouring rain, sun cream when the sun decides to make an appearance or anything else you might need…. like crowns if there happens to be a Jubilee party… they really have thought of everything!
Making a difference has never been so much fun
The Oxfam campsite has excellent facilities, showers (with shorter queues), loos (with a much higher toilet to person ratio), you feel safe leaving your things in your tent and I have never been disappointed with the catering they provide. In fact, Nuts catering at Glastonbury is something I look forward to all year round.
At the end of the day you are making friends, having loads of fun whilst having the self satisfaction that you are helping raise money for an amazing charity. By yourself or with a group of friends I would recommend stewarding with Oxfam this summer and every summer’.
To sign up as an Oxfam steward visit www.oxfam.org.uk/stewarding to get access to amazing entertainment whilst getting hands on with fundraising for humanitarian projects.
You can also check out latest opportunities from the Oxfam festivals team and other top festival recruiters on vinspired.com.
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By Jemima Jordan 22nd March 10
Morning all and welcome to the first (week)day of spring (see what I did there?)! If you just squint your eyes a wee bit, you won’t see that massive dark cloud looming above, and you can happily convince yourself that there is only sunshine and blue sky; a sure sign that we are rid of that ghastly winter that we thought would never end.Not only does this signal the end of months of sunlight deficiency for me and everyone else in England, but it also means that outdoor volunteering is back on the cards. Lucky for you, we’ve got a whole page which pulls together all of the volunteering opportunities that you can do outdoors, so you don’t need to waste precious Facebook-stalking minutes searching for all the things you can do outdoors! If you give the page a good ol’ scan with your peepers, you will see there is lots going on from tree planting, to cricket, to football coaching, to taking pictures of those lovely pretty waterways you wander past every da. So what are you waiting for? Go have a cheeky peek now, before its July and your panic-buying a holiday to Tenerife in a bid to make the most of your summer hols!
The other thing spring signals is festival volunteering application time: We currently have loads of lovely stuff up on our festival volunteering page, but I am going to have to shake my finger like your aunty and say ‘hurry up and apply’, beause they are filling up FAST. Word on the street is that the only spa
ces left at Glastonbury are waiting list, so don’t say I didn’t warn ya!One cheeky tip I can give you though, is that we will be looking for volunteers for the bigvbus bus veeery soon, so all is not lost if you miss out this month
I’ll keep you posted folks,
Jemima and the vinspired.com team.
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