Rubber Bracelets - http://Www.Silibands.com/; “Are you free, mate?” “Yeah! Let’s meet up.” “What shall we do?” “…” “…” “Pub?” “Yeah, might as well.” We’ve all had this conversation. It’s terrible. Nothing against the pub, of course - the pub is great and saying otherwise s sac lege. It’s just good to do something differe some mes. Finding that ‘something different’ can, depending on where you live, be quite difficult over the three-month summer a lot of students are currently experiencing. (It’s a difficult

, we

w).

We’d all love to go to Glastonbury, to Wireless, to Creamfields, but they cost over £200 each for the ticket price alone. Count-in the cost of travel, food, drink, and spending money and you’re looking at a £300+ bill. Festivals are expensive - so much so that you could argue they’re pricing so

oung p

e out.

So why not volunteer at the festival of your choice instead? Could going for free be worth it, despite working whilst you’re there? et’s con der it. How long are you needed on site for? You’ll be asked to arrive earlier than the paying festival punters, possibly on the Tuesday, working through to the Monday. This was certainly the case at Leeds Festival, where I’ve

unteer

efore.

What are the hours? Several of my shifts involved getting up at 5am - which is a little difficult when you went to sleep four hours ago after drinking a fair amount of cider - a working ntil 11. You’ll do a six-hour shift every day, and when you’re not working, you are free to do as you please - which, of course, means you should go to a load of gigs, speak to some strange people, and ance you nut off. What was a working day like? When working at a catering company, you spend a lot of time serving people eggs. My claim to fame? I made The Horr

a cup

offee.

Here’s a warning: if you work in food and drink, some customers like to haggle with you. A senior staff member from the company I worked for (who looked a lot like Billy Ray Cyrus) would always be there to make sure I didn’t give in. He knew that I would Silicone Bracelets cave-in every time to these tired, wet, and mudd

ople i

could.

They just lo ed so da hungry. You’d be surprised how chirpy those people can be at 5am though. A festival will do that to you which is actually my favourite thing about going to music festivals: everyone is happ

t’s re

hing.

Other jobs include being stationed on a fire tower, tying on peoples’ wristbands as they enter the site, helping out in the Oxfam shop, and various other essential positions. There’s a ays somet ng to do. The shifts are done alongside the same batch of people all week - which is a great way to get to know them better. Of course, everybody loves music, so conversation couldn’t b easier to\ rike-up.

EAD MORE: Who are the 'boozies students n the UK? The funniest tweets on

m resul

ay 2015

Students: Want your rent paid in full or a whol semester? Ten cheapest UK ci es for st ent rent 2015-16's te best UK u versities 13 ways to educa yourself for free You should make some good friends over the week. At Leeds, there was a group of 20-30 of us. We’d all hang-out at the camp together, and then we’d all go to gigs together too. t was a l of fun. A huge variety of people volunteer at festivals - and talking to them is half the fun. Some of them were massive stoners. Some didn’t even like music - they were just there to have fun with new people. One guy (who told us he lived in a tree) shaved his beard in our grotty crew Portaloo - which we thoug

as a li

weird.

But, more than anything, everyone was friendly a up for a ood time. How much music do you get to see if you’re working? Reading and Leeds, for example, has 12 hours of live music a day. So it really depends on what shifts you’re allocated. In my own experience, I was quite lucky to have only one shift when music was on (I worked several night and early morning shifts), so I only missed six urs of th total 36. That’s a lot of music for the price of £0 (sort of - we’l

t on to

y soon).

What do other former volunteers think? Josh, a student from Newcastle University who has volunteered at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, and Y Not Festival, said: “The best thing [about volunteering at a festival] is that you get to see the site before it opens, which wristbands factory means that you can set-up your tent before the chaos ensues a few days later when th

neral pu

arrive.

And, of course, you get decent showers too. The toilets still stink, though.” My favourite part of volunteering at a festival is how it forces you to speak to new people - the vast majority of whom are always lovely. Plus, and this will be a big bonus point for any cash-strapped students reading this: volunteering at a fe

al is ver

fordable.

A festival ticket-sized deposit aside (usually £200, you get this back after you complete all of your shifts); you only need to pay for travel, alcohol and fo , which cost e around £50. If you work for a catering company - like I did - you’ll even get those meals for free. Three free hot meals a day is (obviously) fantastic, and definitely better than eating supermarket own-brand cra ers exclusive for a week. The only real issue I had with volunteering was how exhausting it was. I had little sleep over the week, and you never crave for some kip more than when you’re up at 5am on the Sunday mornin

eeling like

urst couch.

Nevertheless, getting to see some of your favourite artists and making some great friends Silicone Bracelets Wholesale over a week - all for £50ish - is an amazing deal. It might even - whis r it - be bett than the pub. So, if after reading this you think you’d like to volunteer at a music festival this year, there are still plenty of places available at Oxfam and Hotbox, to name a few. Give it c tom wristbands go and apply! Twitter: @lucasfothergill