Glastonbury 2009
A last minute decision and it was bags packed and off to sunny Somerset for GF. I had no previous concept how big this event was or how much land was utilised to support the event. I went with an open mind even after reading previous threads about what to expect, the journey there was straight forward and the reception by SLS was well organised.
It was time to unpack the car and move in to my new home (tent). I had arranged prior to leaving of meeting CPW members and could not believe we all pitched up within feet of each other. The first night we all chilled out told stories and consumed alcohol into the ‘we’ small hours, we even looked for Hannah?
My first experience with the porter loos and the catering were acceptable but from that day on things deteriorated and I was either eating shit or sitting in shit. The culinary skills were not imaginative enough as it was always chips and beans on the menu.
The field that I was living in was divided into three separate areas one for non sia staff and another for deposits (students & freaks) and the third for persons who could actually do the job. The rest were so untidy and did not take their duties serious as they were more interested doing their shifts and watching the gigs.
Although acting as stewards they wore security blouses which did not identify them from properly trained staff? They had no people skills and were pretty useless (Fluffy's).
Working the outer perimeter I was accompanied by a DS licensed foreign national who had difficulty staying awake at night and would often disappear for a kip.
Additional staff at my location were again student type persons but employed through the GF and would regularly drink before coming on duty, smoke blow, go to sleep or have no interest in what they were doing making more work for me.
These young people were a complete waste of space. Back to the dining facilities it was the first time for the firm who won the contract to cater in this manner or so I was told but the hygiene was questionable as the tables were not being clean regularly enough which harboured flies, litter not cleaned up it was like a third world kitchen. They expected that the security staff would undertake the cleaning duties as they did not have enough staff.
The toilets were cleaned every morning but were in shit state by mid afternoon and worse by evening, no chemical agents were used to flush or if so not enough. The security operation was well organised and well managed I had no problem with that. What was very disappointing was the number of foreign nationals who had trouble stringing a sentence together and the voice procedure on the radio was atrocious, they too had no conflict management skills and would often give way under pressure, they would also just walk off and disappear.
Those who attended will know exactly what I say is no exaggeration and I felt that to get enough staff they had to scrape the bottom of the barrel. That was all the negatives.
The positives were I met some really good operators and would like to thank them for their camaraderie, banter, teamwork, and sense of humour. They are Fletcher, Stigma21, Harty, Dawn, teranosoba, and several others.
I had a great time and met some great people who will remain friends. I did some networking as it was a good opportunity to do so and hope something positive will come from the GF.
I did liberate a nice big tent left abandoned like so many others and it is now recycled. Teransoba starts a new job soon on maritime so I wish him the best with that, Fletchers partner is due to drop anytime soon and wish them the very best and hope Harty offers me a job when he builds his business empire lol.
I would definitely do it again next year and have a reunion if it was possible.
Those of you who were unlucky enough not to have gone on this adventure missed out on a spectacle that words cannot describe, it is such a strange place with so many strange people.
It was time to unpack the car and move in to my new home (tent). I had arranged prior to leaving of meeting CPW members and could not believe we all pitched up within feet of each other. The first night we all chilled out told stories and consumed alcohol into the ‘we’ small hours, we even looked for Hannah?
My first experience with the porter loos and the catering were acceptable but from that day on things deteriorated and I was either eating shit or sitting in shit. The culinary skills were not imaginative enough as it was always chips and beans on the menu.
The field that I was living in was divided into three separate areas one for non sia staff and another for deposits (students & freaks) and the third for persons who could actually do the job. The rest were so untidy and did not take their duties serious as they were more interested doing their shifts and watching the gigs.
Although acting as stewards they wore security blouses which did not identify them from properly trained staff? They had no people skills and were pretty useless (Fluffy's).
Working the outer perimeter I was accompanied by a DS licensed foreign national who had difficulty staying awake at night and would often disappear for a kip.
Additional staff at my location were again student type persons but employed through the GF and would regularly drink before coming on duty, smoke blow, go to sleep or have no interest in what they were doing making more work for me.
These young people were a complete waste of space. Back to the dining facilities it was the first time for the firm who won the contract to cater in this manner or so I was told but the hygiene was questionable as the tables were not being clean regularly enough which harboured flies, litter not cleaned up it was like a third world kitchen. They expected that the security staff would undertake the cleaning duties as they did not have enough staff.
The toilets were cleaned every morning but were in shit state by mid afternoon and worse by evening, no chemical agents were used to flush or if so not enough. The security operation was well organised and well managed I had no problem with that. What was very disappointing was the number of foreign nationals who had trouble stringing a sentence together and the voice procedure on the radio was atrocious, they too had no conflict management skills and would often give way under pressure, they would also just walk off and disappear.
Those who attended will know exactly what I say is no exaggeration and I felt that to get enough staff they had to scrape the bottom of the barrel. That was all the negatives.
The positives were I met some really good operators and would like to thank them for their camaraderie, banter, teamwork, and sense of humour. They are Fletcher, Stigma21, Harty, Dawn, teranosoba, and several others.
I had a great time and met some great people who will remain friends. I did some networking as it was a good opportunity to do so and hope something positive will come from the GF.
I did liberate a nice big tent left abandoned like so many others and it is now recycled. Teransoba starts a new job soon on maritime so I wish him the best with that, Fletchers partner is due to drop anytime soon and wish them the very best and hope Harty offers me a job when he builds his business empire lol.
I would definitely do it again next year and have a reunion if it was possible.
Those of you who were unlucky enough not to have gone on this adventure missed out on a spectacle that words cannot describe, it is such a strange place with so many strange people.
Total Comments 3
Comments
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Hello Prometheus, nice informative post, give us an idea what to expect so we are not shocked when we get there! Thanks MAllyPosted 04-07-2009 at 12:23 PM by mally
Updated 04-07-2009 at 12:32 PM by mally -
Travelling southbound along the A37 there are plenty of signs giving directions where security personnel needed to turn off by colour indicators. The driver is met by marshals and stewards and directed across a dozen fields turning left and right along the way, the organisors have been kind enough to lay a removable metal road. The security car park is near to the security compound which in its self is surrounded by Harris fencing. As I approached the compound I could see that there were a large number of tents and camper vans parked up which belonged to the permanent staff of Stuart Security. There is a check point at the entrance and from this point I could see a number of porter cabins used for admin, stores and offices. When I walked into the compound which would normally be just a large field I could see two large white marquees one was a briefing room and the other mess hall, to the side of the mess hall were about 20 portable showers. About 30 metres away from the mess hall were the "Dunnies" about 10 either side of the grassey track. On entering the camping field there was another check point which was again a permanent fixture and supplied me with a number to place on my tent. The field was then divided into three as earlier described. I would suggest to anyone thinking about going on such an adventure to take at least a 4 birth tent as it is difficult to live and chill out in a tent designed purely for sleeping two. There were three shifts on the SIA side 0800-2000, 1400-0200, 2000-0800. It is impossible to say which is the best as the weather plays a big part in how comfortable one is. When the festival gets into the swing Helicopters are buzzing overhead making it difficult to get some zzzzzz, and the sun turns the tent into a sweatbox, hence a larger tent to allow a breeze through. I would say that the catering, toilets and showers became pretty dire after a few days, as many of the fluffys young girlies where spending an excessive amount of time in the showers and using all the hot water. When living in the field water is a luxury that cannot be squandered but they had no concept of this. They're campsite looked like a thirteen year olds bedroom. Some were evicted for dealing drugs or failing to turn up for duty and were unceremoniously removed and drummed out of the campsite. On the SIA camping area everyone appeared to get on with the job and respect everyone else's space. Meal tickets are purchased at a porter cabin near the mess tent and cost £2.00 but I would have prefered to have payed £3.00 for quality food, those persons on nights were entiled to a packed lunch for exchange of a meal ticket. The packed lunch were very poor and was only enough to feed a small family of Voles. I make no excuses for negative account given.Posted 04-07-2009 at 05:11 PM by Prometheus
Updated 05-07-2009 at 04:26 PM by Prometheus -
As far as I know the deposit staff had a separate section of field but the SLS Stewards and SLS SIA were both in the same area (to the right as you enter the field). I can assure you that that some SIA staff left plenty of rubbish, it wasn't just the non-licensed staff.
Some of the stewards are very good, they may be in the minority, but they do exist. Also in previous years there have been licensed and experienced staff leave becasue of conditions, usually when it rains a lot.
If you're working with people who are going off for a nap then report them and they will get sacked. Employers can only weed out the bad staff if people will tell them about problems and its noticeable that if you work for them more than once you will see that certain people come back and certain people don't.
Some people's radio procedure was atrocious and I think it would be good if a briefing on radio procedure was sent out before hand so inexperienced people could get used to it. Having said that there were a lot of people who had radios and only a few that were causing a problem.Posted 14-07-2009 at 11:04 AM by littlewoman
