Sunday 28 April 2013

Festival Facts: Glastonbury*

Are you heading to a festival this year!? Did you go to any last year!? 


I think that the only good thing about English summers are the amount of festivals there are. There is certain to be a music scene for everyone whether you like Rock, Drum and Bass, Pop or even Folk music... Festivals are just something that us British actually seem to get RIGHT! But do you think of the bigger things when it comes to going to a festival? Like, how many people staff these events? How many burgers are sold? How many portaloos are needed?! 
 
I know it might sound odd but without thinking about the bigger picture when it comes to organising a festival, it would never be able to take place! Glastonbury is one of the biggest festivals that takes place in England, set in the countryside of Somerset, Glastonbury 2013 has already sold out and is set to be a huge hit! But like I said, people forget about the important things that need to be considered to make an event like this happen, so I have listed some of the more unusual facts that you wouldn't of thought of that will give you an idea of the scale of work that needs to happen before... during... and AFTER the event!
 
The very first Glastonbury Festival was held on the day after Jimi Hendrix died in 1970. There were only 1,500 people there and it cost just £1 to get in, including free milk from the farm!
 
6 Miles of Ground Trax temporary walkway is made and used for the festival of Glastonbury to ensure the ground is suitable and safe to walk on (even when it rains)!
 
Glastonbury needs at least 3,225 portaloo toilets and the reason it couldn't run last year was because the London Olympics had taken all of these for their use!
 
10,000 metres of drinking water hose is required to supply drinking water to the festival goers. 'WRAS approved water pipe' for more information.

Over 100 taps are installed for the duration of the festival and then removed again to put the land back to farming normality. 
150 hand basins are also installed so people can keep clean (or as clean as can be at a festival).

 Over 11 million litres of water used over five days. Crazy, huh!? 
 
700 metres of urinals so the fields don't get too clogged with... well, yeah. 
 
In 2002 , the festival's welfare tents handed out 40,000 tubes of sun block to the festival goers to help prevent sunburn over the 4/5 days!
 800,000 million gallons of human waste is collected over the duration of the festival. Imagine what it'd look like if this wasn't done!? Eugh...
 
30 megawatts of electricity is used for the festival, this is enough electricity to power the city of Bath!! 
 
Glastonbury will see over 130,000 visitors within the 4/5 days it is running. Not everyone goes for the full length of the festival but come and go as they wish.
 
 600 police officers are needed to help staff the event in case of any emergencies, further services will be required.
 
An amazing 34,000 workers including 400 first-aiders run the event from start to finish, with volunteers added onto that!
 
 The BBC will be taking almost 40 miles of cable and 47 cameras to help record and broadcast the festival. 
 
Over 100 food stalls are hired to help cater the festival goers! 100 CHOICES OF FOOD!? 


So, knowing all of this - which festival will YOU be going to this year?! 
(Sponsored post by Bloggers Needed)

3 comments :

  1. i'm so excited i'm going to glasto this summer! first time for me, the last two years i went to reading, but this year i'm working at reading too. :D one question: how good are the portaloos at glasto? they were GRIMEY at reading... but eeeep this post has made me so much more excited :D xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've done everything from working at Offset festival to trecking to to Scotland for T in The Park. Now as a parent we prefer Camp Bestival so we can bring Max. We aren't going this year but can't wait for 2014!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment - I can’t reply right now but will get back to you soon! x