Volunteer Handbook

This map is ONLY for festivalmakers. Please do not share it publicly. A pretty version of this map (for the general public) will be available in our Essential Information.

Most volunteers will receive some meal vouchers for each volunteering day. We have been able to make a small increase this year. Your Team Leader will distribute the vouchers on site.

This year, in addition to the catering vans taking them, the 24 hour cafe, in the campsite, will also be able to accept them.

Volunteers can purchase a Festival Guide from the Volunteers’ Lounge, from the Wednesday of ‘Build Week’. The Guide provides details of everything on the programme for the weekend.

You will be able to purchase a guide at the reduced price of £8.00, giving a discount of £4.00, if you use the discount voucher your team leader will give to you at your briefing/training. The discount voucher will be with the drinks vouchers you’ll also receive.

We work hard to make Greenbelt as sustainable as possible and need your help in this.

Please recycle everything in the correct bins, turn off things that don’t need to be using power and encourage all your team to do the same. Before the festival, remind your volunteers to bring a re-usable water bottle/coffee mug to site and help us drastically reduce the amount of packaging used at Greenbelt.

We have finally managed to source plastic-free ID badges, after many years of searching. We will still continue as last year, with not all volunteers having an ID badge. The Festival-maker wristband will give all volunteers access to the production area, as far as Front Desk, and the Volunteer Lounge. If you need access to other parts of the site, or your role mean you’ve needed to have DBS check, you will still be issued with an ID badge.

As usual, we will be collecting in lanyards and hi-vis so that they can be used again next year. Hi-vis can be returned to Volunteer Information, if you don’t need it once the festival has opened. You can also return it to a steward as you leave site. It would be really helpful if you could close the velcro on the hi-vis, before you return it. If everyone does this, it saves them all getting stuck together in the washing machine!

You may be asked to comment on items on the programme, particularly about contributors who may be speaking on topics which could be controversial. However innocent this may appear, you may be speaking to a journalist who may take your comments as being made on Greenbelt’s behalf. Please direct any requests of this kind to Daisy Ghira (Greenbelt’s Digital Comms Officer), who can be reached on radio or through Control.

Please make sure you report the following to Event Control, via radio or Front Desk:

• incidents of injury, loss or damage – to people or to estate property
• theft – as one incident may be a sign of a more widespread problem
• lost / found children – Event Control will tell you what to do
• manageable incidents which are escalating to something more serious or have further implications – eg something causing an obstruction to walkways or exits, drunkenness, disturbances, fighting, noise, non-emergency incidents which may need to be reported to another team – eg Fire, Event Safety, Access, First Aid, Stewards, Noise, Detached Youth, Safeguarding
• incidents which may have implications for the Festival’s reputation – eg complaints from local residents
• incidents which will prevent items of programming happening.

We take the safeguarding of children, young people and adults at risk at the festival very seriously. We have a designated Safeguarding Team who train and guide staff and volunteers in all areas of safeguarding and child protection and are available onsite to respond to any issues. You can contact the Safeguarding Team via Event Control or Volunteers’ Lounge Information Desk.

REPORTING CONCERNS FOR UNDER-18S OR ADULTS At RISK

If you have any worries about possible abuse of children, young people, or adults at risk; or you are concerned about the safety or wellbeing of a child, a young person or an adult at risk, please report this to the Greenbelt Safeguarding Duty Officer. Your Team Leader can contact them via Control. 

When raising concerns please do not give personal details on the radio, or to anyone else outside the Safeguarding Team. The Safeguarding Team will make decisions on necessary action to be taken and who is to be informed.

If a child, young person, or an adult at risk wants to talk to you about abuse, never promise to keep the information secret. Explain that you have to pass on information.

When discussing abuse with under-18s or adults at risk:

• Listen, keep listening, clarify, but do not investigate
• Show acceptance of what is being said, keep calm, be sincere
• Tell them that you will need to let someone else know
• Assure them they are not to blame for the abuse, they were right to tell
• Let them know what you will do next and that they will be told what happens
• Write down what has been shared without delay
• Report this to your Team Leader, or directly to the Duty Safeguarding Officer for the event
• Only pass this information to those who need to know

GUIDELINES FOR WORK WITH UNDER-18S AND ADULTS AT RISK – A CODE OF PRACTICE

Staff and volunteers should always:

• treat everyone with respect
• respect a young person or an adult at risk’s right to privacy and personal boundaries
• plan activities/ actions so that at least two members of staff or volunteers are present
• respond to all concerns raised by children or adults at risk promptly; including concerns about harm, with sensitivity and due care.

Staff and volunteers must not:

• spend time alone with young people away from others or in secret
•  contact young people outside the activity or the festival in which they meet them
•  take pictures or video without the subject’s permission or that of their parents (if under 16)
•  engage in rough physical or sexually provocative games
• allow or engage in inappropriate touching of any form
• allow young people or other staff and volunteers to use inappropriate language
• make sexually suggestive comments about or to a child, young person or adult at risk
• show favouritism
• make private or secret communications with children, young people or adults at risk by electronic media such as email, messaging, on Facebook or text.

FOUND CHILDREN

If you encounter a child who has lost their parent or carer or is distressed during the Festival:

• approach the child and ask if you can help, give verbal reassurances
• ask their name and any other details necessary, contact details of parent or carer
• find a steward with a radio and get them to call Event Control. Control will advise you what to do. This may involve taking the child to a place of safety (the Parent Support Venue, or Found Children Point near the Info Point).
• don’t attempt to deal with the issue without radioing Control
• when instructed, leave the child in the care of the Found Children Point Volunteers on duty, as advised by Control and let them know all information and any concerns you may have regarding the situation
• do not leave the child alone and always ensure another adult is with you.
• if you encounter the parents or guardians of the child while dealing with the situation the child should be reunited with them. It is important to verify the identity of the parent or guardian first and to let Control know the details of whom the child was handed over to.
• if there is any doubt concerning the identity of the parent/ guardian then ask them to accompany you, plus another volunteer and the child to the Found Children Point or Parent Support Venue where further checks can be made.

LOST CHILDREN

If you encounter a parent or carer who has lost a child, this should be reported via Control immediately. A parent should stay with you and as much detail recorded via a secure radio channel or telephone as soon as possible. Control or the Found Children Point volunteers will help you with this.

All volunteers represent Greenbelt, so in the course of your duties you may encounter an unhappy festivalgoer, or one who has a complaint to make. Listen carefully to what is being said, getting as many details as you can. Remain polite, respectful and sympathetic, offering practical solutions to help and apologise if appropriate. Don’t get angry, offer excuses or make promises you are not able to keep.

Refer complaints to the Info Point.

Make sure you also inform your team leader.

If you are required to use your own vehicle as part of your volunteering role, you must clear this with the Greenbelt office before doing so. You should hold a full clean driving licence, your vehicle should have a valid MOT certificate and you must inform your Insurance Company that the vehicle is being used for voluntary purposes. This should not incur any additional premium payments.

Team Leader’s must let us know if any of your team will need to use their own vehicle for festival related business.

We have a medical service providing the Greenbelt First Aid service. Facilities and treatment are available from the First Aid Centre near the GB Takeaway. In the event of a medical emergency, please contact Event Control via the radio in your venue or find a steward with a radio.

After midnight they transfer to the Campsite Hub.

There are pharmacies within a couple of miles of the festival site. Information about these can be found at the Information point, near the First Aid tent, or from Volunteer Information.

Mobile phone charging is available in Volunteers’ Lounge but please note that Boughton Estate is in a rural location where mobile phone signal is patchy and where there will be limited coverage across all networks.

Please bring a well fitting cable so your phone does charge. Battery packs can be charged, but when the charging station is busy, it may not be possible to do a full charge, as they tend to take a lot longer than a phone. 

There are free showers for volunteers. These are near the glamping tents site and are run for us by volunteers. Pop along when you’re not on duty, show them your festival-maker wristband and enjoy! Please stick to the allocated 15-minute slot so others don’t have to queue for too long. Showers are likely to be less busy in the afternoons. And please remember the team there are unpaid volunteers like you!

Baby-bathing is available in the Parent Support Venue from Thursday lunchtime.

The Campsite Hub is situated between the main campsite and the Festival Village. You’ll find the The Parched Pilgrim, 24-hour Kindred Café, the Parent Support Venue (PSV), Ibex Camping Shop and the ‘Milk & Honey’ General Store for all your basic food and camping requirements. (There is also a PSV inside the Childrens Area in the Festival Village.)

Please bring your own plastic bags for waste and place it in the bins provided. For all kinds of recyclable waste, there will be collecting bins for different types of recyclable waste across the festival site.

Before the festival opens to the general public, there will be limited toilets open for the use of volunteers. Please don’t attempt to use other toilets pre-festival, as they are not on the route for emptying until the general public arrive. The facilities nearest to the Volunteer Camping area will be ready to use first. If you camp in other areas, you may have further to walk to find facilities during Build Week.

Cold water standpipes are situated throughout the campsite. This is suitable for drinking. There will also be sink units for washing your hands.

Lost property should be handed in at the Info Point alongside the Walled Garden.

Lost items can also be collected from there during the festival

The Info Team will also collect lost items from venues around site and from the campsite information point on a daily basis.

Donate your unwanted and unused dry/canned foods at the end of the festival instead of taking them home with you. Just drop them at the Village Hall on Monday morning and we’ll donate them to the local Kettering foodbank on your behalf.

We permit: Camping stoves, please place off the ground with an extinguisher or water close by. BBQs brought onto site must be raised off the ground, stable and use gas or coal.

We do not permit: Personal generators, open fires, wood burners, wood fires or sky lanterns.

Please do not change any gas cylinders in your tent, or while there is another stove or naked light in use nearby and always check the new cylinder is securely fitted before using. Please ensure a reasonable distance (at least 60cm) between stove and windbreak and never leave any apparatus unattended. If you are involved in a tent fire, get yourself and all other members of your party out as quickly as possible. Only tackle the fire if you feel safe doing so. You must summon assistance from the onsite emergency services, no matter how small the incident is, or even if it has already been dealt with. If you require any further fire safety advice at the festival, or if you are unsure about any of the above, don’t hesitate to ask one of the Fire Team patrolling the campsites or at the Campsite Information Point.

In the event of fire or a medical emergency:

• Raise the alarm
• Make contact with a steward (wearing yellow hi-visibility jackets) and make sure you can describe the location of the fire or emergency.

Camping space is available on a first-come, first-served basis. To ensure that everyone has fair access to the camping areas, reserving space is not permitted (with the exception of pre-bookable Disabled Camping).

Routeways for authorised emergency and service vehicles are denoted by striped marker tape. Please do not camp in these areas.

A minimum distance of 1.5m must separate all tents and gazebos.

Remember, the campsite is a public space and the security of your accommodation cannot be guaranteed. We recommend leaving your valuables at home and reporting any suspicious activities immediately to stewards.

As Greenbelt campers, please help to ensure you leave no trace of your visit. Please continue to be particularly vigilant about small items such as tent pegs, which can be hazardous to animals.

All outlets — ours and our caterers and traders – will take cash onsite. But all our Greenbelt outlets (Box Office, g-store, bars and cafés) will also have contactless card payment — as will many of the caterers and traders.

There will be an onsite cashpoint. There is a small charge for cash withdrawals.

There is a designated Beer Tent (The Jesus Arms) and Bars (The Blue Nun, The Parched Pilgrim) within the Festival Village where alcohol may be purchased and consumed. There is also a pop-up bar in the Hot House for late-night DJ sets. Alcohol may be consumed in the campsite, but you will not be able to bring your own alcohol into the Festival Village from the campsite.

Greenbelt operates a Challenge 25 policy, so if you’re lucky enough to look under 25, please bring the appropriate ID, as an adult wristband does not prove your age. There is also a non-alcoholic bar on site (the Hope and Anchor). Under 18s will only be admitted to the Jesus Arms if accompanied by a supervising adult.

Greenbelt does not condone the use of recreational/illegal drugs.

We have regular meetings for Friends of Bill W over the festival weekend. To find out when these are, head to the Info Booth and pick up a Friends of Bill W business card.

Cars parked in all our designated car parks are left entirely at the owner’s own risk. If your car is parked in an undesignated area it is deemed to be a safety risk and will be removed. Greenbelt does not accept any responsibility or liability for any loss or damage caused to a vehicle that needs to be towed or moved as a result of failure to adhere to this warning. Any relocation of motor vehicles is entirely at the owners’ risk.

Greenbelt accepts no liability for any loss or damage to persons or property incurred at the Festival.

By signing up to volunteer, you consent to Greenbelt using photographic, audio or video footage for TV, Video, DVD, MP3, CD, internet, CCTV or other public broadcast that may include you – deliberately or inadvertently.