Volunteer

Without the help of volunteers Didmarton cannot run smoothly and we have an extensive team of stewards who help us manage the event every year. For the most part, stewards are often in the front line and carry a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. Many of our visitors will comment favourably if they have been well looked after by our stewarding team, so, it's not a job to be taken lightly!

The Steward Management Team

Steward Coordinator: Keith Howard.
Apart from being a band leader – The Hog Ranch - Keith has taken on the job of recruiting our stewards on a yearly basis. In 2011, he has been tasked with carrying out a census of our present stewards to build up a strong team. He will be sending out forms for you to complete. Please cooperate and get the information back to him as soon as possible.

Steward Supervisors: Rob and Sheila O'Dell.
Rob and Sheila have been with us for several years now and are devotees of The Didmarton Bluegrass Festival. They are experienced stewards having worked at many UK Folk and Bluegrass Festivals and their job is to manage the steward operations during the four day event. It's no mean task and your cooperation is essential. In return they will help you go about your business and also report on any difficulties you might experience.

Types of Duty

The principle duties required from volunteers are as follows:

Ticket Office duties (selling tickets and dealing with advance tickets, must be used to handling cash)
Traffic Management (General parking, controlling traffic at the main entrance, etc)
Concert Stewarding (door stewards, checking tickets, etc)
Back Stage security
General duties (cleaning, litter pickers, etc)
Specialists (anyone with specific skills, electrics, building, carpentry, etc)

The specialist skills groups are those who help build the festival infrastructure and are used to handling tools and equipment, working in hazardous areas, etc.

The form has a section to enter special skills and we are interested in knowing as uch about you as possible to allocate you to a suitable duty.

Shifts

You will normally be expected to work two to three shifts each day. It is unlikely you will be required to work for more then 5 hours in any day which leaves you plenty of free time to enjoy the festival. This may sound like hard work but most people enjoy their stints on duty and feel more involved with the event. The longer you can commit to being at the event, the more spread out your shifts will be and the more spare time you are likely to get during the peak days on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Read our 2006 festival blog to find out what sort of things you might get up to as a steward.

People involved in the infrastructure build (specialist skills) don't normally do any work during the festival open hours (Friday to Sunday).

Your commitment

As explained above, stewards carry a lot of responsibility and the task can be demanding at times. But most of our volunteers are great people and understand the spirit of Didmarton and enjoy being involved. We have a great team and two exceptionally talented Steward Supervisors, Rob and Sheila O'Dell who are there to make your jobs easier. They also provide us with a report after every festival and all suggestions and comments are recorded and acted upon where appropriate. So, be sure to feedback any thoughts on improving the process.

There are a few rules we have to apply:

We cannot schedule shift allocations to take account of the programming of concerts or specific bands.
Well do our best to ensure couples are allocated duties at the same times but we cannot guarantee this will be possible on every occasion. Please indicate on your form if you are stewarding with a partner.
The form has a table to indicate your availability. Please make sure you state the time at which you are ready to start work and the time at which you wish to finish you last duty. If you plan to arrive on site at 08:00am, please allow yourself time to set up camp and settle in. We will prioritise applications from people who a flexible with their working times.
Please respond promptly to correspondence from the Stewards Coordinator or Steward supervisors. We have over sixty individuals to allocate work to and we need to confirm your availability as soon as possible. If you are not sure you can volunteer, say so and we can add you to the reserve list. You may well still be recruited to act as a stand by for no shows, etc.
If your are unable to attend and carry out your duties due to illness or other circumstance outside of your control, please let the Steward Supervisors know at once. It only takes four or five people to not turn up to cause a problem with alternative cover.

The deal

In exchange for your efforts you will be provided with free weekend and camping passes passes for the duration of the festival (earliest arrival Wednesday morning, last departure, Monday).

And, our undying gratitude!

Please note all applications for stewarding must be submitted on the appropriate form which you can download via the links below.

Apply to be a volunteer

If you would like to offer your services as a volunteer for the next festival or would like to know more about what stewarding involves, please download the Stewards form and send it to our Stewards coordinator.

Stewards Application Form

Stewards Appplication Form (M/S Word)

Stewards Application Form (pdf)