To say if your child is going to a Festival for the first time, do not, under any circumstances

Thank you so much that is perfect. I will get him to do that today

It's the attendees if you ask me.

I've just come back from a four day festival. I didn't see one single piece of rubbish on the ground and the campsite was left spotless after the festival. Any tents that needed to be abandoned were folded up and left in the refuse areas.

The loos there were as close to spotless as can be for a portaloo. There was only one I saw that didn't have neat stacks of toilet paper.

If you go somewhere where people don't give a shit, add in drunkenness, rain, and mud, the loos quickly become chaotic.

I have a question about festival toilets.

I have never been to a music festival (and at 62 am unlikely to start!) nor has my adult DC. But one always hears such horror stories about the state of the toilets so, genuine question, why is it that they become so dreadful? Is it simply that the organisers do not make adequate provision?

Although I have never been to a festival, there are a couple of events I visit most years. Both of these events attract very large crowds and run for several days, albeit they only run during the day, nobody stays the night. In both cases there are always large banks of good quality portaloo type things. You never need to queue for very long at all and I have never yet found one that wasn't clean and in good condition. There is always soap in the dispensers, no overflowing bins, generally well maintained.

So it seems it is possible to provide mass, temporary toilet provision that is in good order. Why then doesn't this happen at festivals? Is it just the organisers know that festival goers will accept squalid conditions because that is what they have come to expect, whereas at the events I go to people would be appalled at those conditions and probably complain?

I've volunteered with a charity that collects tents (and mats, sleeping bags, chairs) from festival sites. However we cannot do it for every festival because...
permission has to be sought and given from the festival organizers.
transport to/from venue organized (van, estate car, trailer).
Storage for the stuff collected.
Then each item has to be checked to see if it is in good condition, which means literally erecting the tents and counting tentpegs etc.
Each item has to be cleaned/washed. And aired or dried.
Then stored again once clean and checked.
Only then can it be packed and dispatched and transported to where it is needed.

So I hope you now are more aware of the enormous amount of voluntary work that has to go into getting the abandoned equipment out to people in need.

My son downloaded the EasyID app :
https://www.postoffice.co.uk/identity/easyid
You can scan your passport if it has a machine readable chip. It only takes a few minutes.

I didn't say it didn't matter.
As a millennial festival goer I always brought everything home with me

Get those tablets that save them if they OD

Festivals (as in all festivals) becoming increasingly dangerous or one particular festival which has been particularly badly mismanaged and attracts a particularly high risk audience?

I don't believe it is the former.

Every festival has it's own character and its own atmosphere. Even Reading and Leeds which are a pair with the same bands and same organisation different. (I've been to both several times over the years - despite living in the North and Leeds being much easier for me, I'd much rather day ticket it than camp for a while number of reasons. Reading is a better festival overall).

Glastonbury isn't a music festival as such. It's a life experience. It's more than just the music.

Why people have picked a particular festival matters much more than non-festival goers realise.

Some are much more commercial and middle class than others. Some have a generally older crowd. Some are a mix and some are for a particular young crowd. Some are more sanitised than others (and I don't mean the state of the toilets). Others have a bigger drug problem than most.

Know your festival when you go!

Don't hold on to your wish to relive your youth vicariously- your child might go to one festival at 18 ,hate it and never go again. Even if you offer to buy the tickets. 😢

No they do not collect ALL the tents.

This is a myth.

Several festivals work with charities to salvage as much as possible but lots is still landfilled and the sheer volume of stuff is too much to use for other purposes. It is still expensive too - the collection and storage isn't a small amount.

It looks like the are a few people who now use the existence of these charities as an excuse to say 'oh it doesn't matter if I leave the tent'.

Yes it bloody well does matter and no you still shouldn't leave it.

Leeds! Obviously, not leads

There is an article in the Times today about festivals and how they are becoming increasingly dangerous. The Boardmasters crowd crush, drugs deaths at leads and reading and sexual assaults.

My kids aren't old enough yet but tbh I'd be very unsure about sending them.

I'll try to link but think it's behind a paywall.

‘There were kids high on drugs climbing up fire towers’

www.thetimes.com/article/df64cd65-b480-4c50-855a-bf8e6c179ee9?shareToken=2b135aafb72979e43c1ff91aed1bcc83

Gen Z-ers are not wholly responsible for the shit left over at the end of festivals and it’s unfair to call them lazy and blame them.

Haha, I was at Glasto '98 & my mum did the same to me!

Chuck an AirTag (or similar) in your tent. Makes finding it easier

The seven festival essentials: bog roll, baby wipes, antibacterial hand wash, a roll of black bin bags, gaffer tape, a pair of scissors and string.

These will save you in most festival scenarios.

There is now a charity who collect all the abandoned tents etc. & they get sent to displaced persons camps, whilst still wasteful of the UK it is of benefit elsewhere...

But "the youth of today" are supposed to be so concerned about climate change, the planet etc. So many obviously don't give a fuck about any of it.

People not brought up properly and without morals have always been pricks

Take a battery pack (or two) for their mobile.

I was in Kavos when I got my A-level results in 1999- had to phone from a pay phone to get my mum to read them out!

Tell them to locate the help hubs early so if they need them they know where to go. I have volunteered with Festival Angels for several years- a safe space to chill, get a cuppa, or to find help if needed. I also used to run Lost Property at Leeds Fest, so if anyone is going there, pre-register details because then if their phone is handed in, a notification is sent to their friends and they can collect it:
leedsfestival.liff.app/#/protect/register

Also, if driving, where do you drop them? How close can you get to th emain entrance at Reading festival. What is this walk from the station thing?

god I'm more nervous about Reading that GCSE results now. Some of DS's mates have early access and are getting their results actually AT the festival - bonkers (lets hopw their internet access is ok!).

How much money should they have and in what format? how do they pay fo rthings? Can you put money on wristbands or is a revolut card the way to go?

A top tip that won’t work for everyone is to either be a festival trader or be the friend of one helping out:

Drive onto the main site
If trapped by mud at the end get towed off as a ‘priority’
Turn up before the festival and leave after it
Camp at the back of your stall
Have access to ‘private’ fenced off toilets
Possibly have mains power
Possibly camp in the van, or caravan you’ve e parked up behind the stall
Bring in your own food, cooking, alcohol etc on site
Wake up on site with all your belongings, no need to carry everything for the day / drag a group trolley
If well situated, sit in your stall facing the main stage listening to everyone
If not so well situated, sit in your stall facing two stages on each side of the field listening to alternating music as the wind sweeps every couple of lines
Watch ‘ordinary’ festival goers struggle past wandering as zombies carrying / dragging their belongings
There could be pre-festival and post festival ‘staff gigs’, and / or extra late night gigs after campers have been herded off the main site to the camping by security

The downside is major & established festivals cost ££££s for the pitch result in a lot of work with long days / 24 hour long days to take the sales to pay for the pitch
Mid sized festivals cost £££s, and still need the work to fund the pitch, but you are more likely to be able to shut up shop (or have spare pairs of hands) to head up to the stages

Small / new festivals / local shows can have very cheap pitch costs, and some are free subject to a donation at the end depending on how well you have done
My friend began trading this way, she worked out that for the cost of individual tickets she could have a pitch plus entry for x staff then possibly make some money on top. This has changed from an easy way to go to shows/festivals making some drinks money into her full time job