Daily Mail readers work themselves into a self righteous froth over Reading Festival litter

[bi0boy]

To be fair that is totally disgusting. People who don't clear up after themselves at festivals are pricks

I've done this at Glastonbury once but I had taken so many drugs I don't even know how I got home.

But people cleaned it up and got free stuff. I've cleaned up other people's stuff on different occasions

Seems reasonable to me.

 

[souljacker]

That pic was obviously taken around Monday lunchtime, when everyone has left and the cleanup hasn't reached the campsite yet. They should have shown a pic of 8pm on Monday evening, when it is completely cleaned. As a resident of the area, I'm always amazed that the whole of Caversham/Caversham Road/Reading Station area is completely spotless within 24 hours of the last band finishing their set.

The first pic also shows the lavish millionaire properties on the other side of the river. These are the people who bitch and moan about the festival every year. Reading festival has been going on for at least 40 years and some of these cunts have only lived there for about 10 years.

One of them has got a fucking helicopter landing pad for fucks sake, yet he still bitches about the noise of a three day festival!

 

[JTG]

Oh come on! Those people aren't meticulously clearing the site inch by inch, they're raking through tents etc looking for juicy tat. How does that support festival culture and enable charities to make some money out of MF better than MF allowing charities on site in an official capacity?

'Free' labour which would cost a lot otherwise. Easy to understand really, especially when a fair few of us are providing that labour on behalf of a very well known charity who make over £1 million out of festival services each year

 

[bmd]

'Free' labour which would cost a lot otherwise. Easy to understand really, especially when a fair few of us are providing that labour on behalf of a very well known charity who make over £1 million out of festival services each year

But it isn't labour when those people are just wading through the site looking for stuff of value to them. They're not there to provide a service but to get what they can. Good luck to them but to call it valuable free labour as if it's some altruistic gesture at the end of the festival by some well-meaning types isn't accurate imo.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Reading has never portrayed itself as being particularly "green" anyway.

It is shameful that people leave tents behind. I think some of the festivals collect them up and donate them to charity for disaster relief...

Some festivals claim to do this but I have it on good authority from people who have worked in the clean-up crews that abandoned tents just go to landfill with everything else. Luckily some of those people were able to make off with a carload of tents which we've since donated to refugees in Calais.

e2a: Apparently it's also pretty standard for site security to slash open every tent left standing to look for valuables before the proper litter-pickers start working. God knnows how many tents get ruined because these cunts are too lazy (or, if I know festival security, quite possibly too stupid) to operate a zip in order to get at their ill-gotten gains.

 

[bmd]

Some festivals claim to do this but I have it on good authority from people who have worked in the clean-up crews that abandoned tents just go to landfill with everything else. Luckily some of those people were able to make off with a carload of tents which we've since donated to refugees in Calais.

Your good authority has been lying to you. MF do it for Reading and Leeds.

 

[Pickman's model]

Your good authority has been lying to you. MF do it for Reading and Leeds.

they do it for refugees in leeds and reading?

 

[JTG]

But it isn't labour when those people are just wading through the site looking for stuff of value to them. They're not there to provide a service but to get what they can. Good luck to them but to call it valuable free labour as if it's some altruistic gesture at the end of the festival by some well-meaning types isn't accurate imo.

No. We're stewarding, litter picking etc for free. Then some of us go tatting. Then we go onto the next one. By stewarding/bar working etc for nowt, we are enabling many festivals to scrape by (there's bog all money in it as it is). If we weren't able to do this as a 'bonus' after our festival work, loads of us wouldn't be able to come back and our primary festival skills (fancy running a stewarding shift involving medical emergencies, missing children, overcrowding issues, security issues etc as well as standard customer enquiries, stewarding admin etc etc for nothing? Reckon you can get people able to do this just like that and can you afford to lose a portion of them by closing off the thing that enables them not to have to worry about a 'proper' job for 3/4 months?) would be lost.

And as I say, Oxfam stewarding make over a million a year off the back of our skills. Not all of us 'need' to tat obviously but I know of several who do. Oxfam would find it very much harder to make this money year on year without us.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Your good authority has been lying to you. MF do it for Reading and Leeds.

Can't remember which festivals were mentioned, but it wasn't Reading or Leeds.

 

[JTG]

Some festivals claim to do this but I have it on good authority from people who have worked in the clean-up crews that abandoned tents just go to landfill with everything else. Luckily some of those people were able to make off with a carload of tents which we've since donated to refugees in Calais.

e2a: Apparently it's also pretty standard for site security to slash open every tent left standing to look for valuables before the proper litter-pickers start working. God knnows how many tents get ruined because these cunts are too lazy (or, if I know festival security, quite possibly too stupid) to operate a zip in order to get at their ill-gotten gains.

Pretty much standard, yeah

 

[bmd]

they do it for refugees in leeds and reading?

Eh? No they allow charities based in those cities to rummage through the site for food that goes to foodbanks and other goods that are sold for cash.

No. We're stewarding, litter picking etc for free. Then some of us go tatting. Then we go onto the next one. By stewarding/bar working etc for nowt, we are enabling many festivals to scrape by (there's bog all money in it as it is). If we weren't able to do this as a 'bonus' after our festival work, loads of us wouldn't be able to come back and our primary festival skills (fancy running a stewarding shift involving medical emergencies, missing children, overcrowding issues, security issues etc as well as standard customer enquiries, stewarding admin etc etc for nothing? Reckon you can get people able to do this just like that and can you afford to lose a portion of them by closing off the thing that enables them not to have to worry about a 'proper' job for 3/4 months?) would be lost.

And as I say, Oxfam stewarding make over a million a year off the back of our skills. Not all of us 'need' to tat obviously but I know of several who do. Oxfam would find it very much harder to make this money year on year without us.

The contract is that you're given free entry to the festival in return for a certain number of shifts. You're saying that isn't enough for you. Don't do it then. No one has ever said that tatting is the god given right of the people who volunteer in return for a free ticket.

 

[JTG]

The contract is that you're given free entry to the festival in return for a certain number of shifts. You're saying that isn't enough for you. Don't do it then. No one has ever said that tatting is the god given right of the people who volunteer in return for a free ticket.

Are you deliberately missing the point here? I'm saying that without this informal economy, a lot of people with valuable skills would be lost to the scene and it would be poorer as a result. Never mind 'contracts' and 'rights', it is simply what happens out there.

What's your interest here by the way? Experience, knowledge etc

 

[pinkmonkey]

How much good would a 12.99 tent be for someone who plans to use it more than a few night anyway? Ive seen better quality carrier bags.
I dont much like the mess left at Reading but then again I'm not 17.

 

[JTG]

How much good would a 12.99 tent be for someone who plans to use it more than a few night anyway? Ive seen better quality carrier bags.
I dont much like the mess left at Reading but then again I'm not 17.

This is also true. A lot of the tents left out there are SHITE and barely even last one weekend

 

[bmd]

Are you deliberately missing the point here? I'm saying that without this informal economy, a lot of people with valuable skills would be lost to the scene and it would be poorer as a result. Never mind 'contracts' and 'rights', it is simply what happens out there.

What's your interest here by the way? Experience, knowledge etc

My interest is in the charities that benefit from being allowed to tat the site. When you work for a charity by volunteering at a festival in return for free entry then you've been paid with the full knowledge of the contract you're entering into before you start work. Yes, it's a contract.

You seem to think that by volunteering you're giving something beyond the work you put in for your ticket and therefore should be compensated for that by being allowed to tat the site. I don't agree. I would much rather the local charities benefit from it. Festivals wouldn't work without their volunteer staff but to say that this equates to extra rights over and above what's agreed is a fallacy imo.

 

[JTG]

My interest is in the charities that benefit from being allowed to tat the site. When you work for a charity by volunteering at a festival in return for free entry then you've been paid with the full knowledge of the contract you're entering into before you start work. Yes, it's a contract.

You seem to think that by volunteering you're giving something beyond the work you put in for your ticket and therefore should be compensated for that by being allowed to tat the site. I don't agree. I would much rather the local charities benefit from it. Festivals wouldn't work without their volunteer staff but to say that this equates to extra rights over and above what's agreed is a fallacy imo.

Ah right, you actually are failing to see the point I'm making. Fair dos, until you do there's no point debating is there?

Any chance of a link to these charities that tat the site at reading/Leeds btw? Am googling but can't find much on Festival Republic's site

 

[bmd]

I don't want to link to them but I'll pm you if you like?

How am I failing to see your point? I think I've set out what you've said very clearly. What is it I'm missing? It's certainly not deliberate if I am.

 

[editor]

You'd think Festival Republic would advertise the fact that they give discarded tents to charity and put up signs at the event encouraging festival-goers to perhaps pack down their tents or at least leave them in a fit state.

 

[bmd]

You'd think Festival Republic would advertise the fact that they give discarded tents to charity and put up signs at the event encouraging festival-goers to perhaps pack down their tents or at least leave them in a fit state.

Good idea!

 

[JTG]

I don't want to link to them but I'll pm you if you like?

How am I failing to see your point? I think I've set out what you've said very clearly. What is it I'm missing? It's certainly not deliberate if I am.

It's in my post. I'll do it again.

Certain festival services organisations, some of whom are charitable in nature, function on the labour of volunteers. As you rightly say, there's a deal - we work, we gain entry.

There are many of these workers who do not have formal employment as such during festival season. I'm one of these this summer but I know of several others for whom this is the case every year. These people are, in many cases, necessary for the continuing provision of the services enjoyed by the festivals at a reasonably cheap rate. They are very experienced, skilled etc. Because they do not have formal employment, they rely on tatting to help sustain a pretty simple lifestyle - particularly for food but also other things such as serviceable accommodation (ie tents!)

No, it's not in the contract. It is, however, vital to them and they in turn fulfill a vital function to the festivals. Without them, it would be much harder for festivals to even happen - so no charity bonanza of any sort under your terms should we be prevented from having a Monday womble across site. And, as noted, much harder for organisations such as Oxfam stewarding to make the many thousands of pounds that they do.

In addition, it is utterly naive at best to think that security team's prevention of tatting at festival Republic and Live Nation events is purely so that local charities can benefit. The litter crews of course have a privileged position in the respect that they'll see a lot of good stuff before anyone else. And do we really think that security firms don't have a degree of self interest here as well? They know that their staff like a good freebie as much as anyone and having observed many of them in their work, I don't believe for a second that they're not having a load of that bounty for themselves.

So. I understand food banks etc get their turn. Good for them, but I'm talking about people who don't have much themselves (not necessarily me, I'd be OK, but I know people whose summer existence is on this stuff) and preventing them from using it as a resource and playing them off against other needy people is playing the game Festival Republic are interested in, because they are not a nice organisation at all I'm afraid.

I've made that as clear as I can. It's written from the viewpoint of an experienced festival worker who has worked at many, many events, from microscopic festivals in a single field up to Glastonbury. it's based on how this stuff works in reality for a lot of people. It's not about 'extra rights' it's about necessity.

Incidentally, I found a story from four years ago about festival goers at Reading having the chance to donate their unused food to local charities. Great stuff, but that's not what we're discussing here is it? Are we certain that local charities get a chance to actively scour the site for stuff? because I aint.

 

[JTG]

You'd think Festival Republic would advertise the fact that they give discarded tents to charity and put up signs at the event encouraging festival-goers to perhaps pack down their tents or at least leave them in a fit state.

Been tried many times all over the place, doesn't work

 

[silverfish]

You'd think Festival Republic would advertise the fact that they give discarded tents to charity and put up signs at the event encouraging festival-goers to perhaps pack down their tents or at least leave them in a fit state.

Its the taking down and packing away which the lazy fuckers don't want to do, that's the problem. If tents packed themselves everyone would take them home

 

[JTG]

Its the taking down and packing away which the lazy fuckers don't want to do, that's the problem. If tents packed themselves everyone would take them home

indeed

 

[JTG]

For the benefit of the reading millions, bmd has supplied me with an interesting PM and we are friends. Yeah I know you all wanted to hear that. I don't think any of what I said is invalid, just that it's a shame when these things are either/or rather than everyone who needs it gaining

 

[editor]

Its the taking down and packing away which the lazy fuckers don't want to do, that's the problem. If tents packed themselves everyone would take them home

People also leave behind loads of those pop up tents and they pack away very quickly indeed. Double lazy!

 

[JTG]

People also leave behind loads of those pop up tents and they pack away very quickly indeed. Double lazy!

Ah you see, people don't even know how to pack them away!

There's a good living to be made charging people a fiver to fold them up and pack em away should the tatting be a no go area in future

 

[bmd]

It's in my post. I'll do it again.

Certain festival services organisations, some of whom are charitable in nature, function on the labour of volunteers. As you rightly say, there's a deal - we work, we gain entry.

There are many of these workers who do not have formal employment as such during festival season. I'm one of these this summer but I know of several others for whom this is the case every year. These people are, in many cases, necessary for the continuing provision of the services enjoyed by the festivals at a reasonably cheap rate. They are very experienced, skilled etc. Because they do not have formal employment, they rely on tatting to help sustain a pretty simple lifestyle - particularly for food but also other things such as serviceable accommodation (ie tents!)

No, it's not in the contract. It is, however, vital to them and they in turn fulfill a vital function to the festivals. Without them, it would be much harder for festivals to even happen - so no charity bonanza of any sort under your terms should we be prevented from having a Monday womble across site. And, as noted, much harder for organisations such as Oxfam stewarding to make the many thousands of pounds that they do.

In addition, it is utterly naive at best to think that security team's prevention of tatting at festival Republic and Live Nation events is purely so that local charities can benefit. The litter crews of course have a privileged position in the respect that they'll see a lot of good stuff before anyone else. And do we really think that security firms don't have a degree of self interest here as well? They know that their staff like a good freebie as much as anyone and having observed many of them in their work, I don't believe for a second that they're not having a load of that bounty for themselves.

So. I understand food banks etc get their turn. Good for them, but I'm talking about people who don't have much themselves (not necessarily me, I'd be OK, but I know people whose summer existence is on this stuff) and preventing them from using it as a resource and playing them off against other needy people is playing the game Festival Republic are interested in, because they are not a nice organisation at all I'm afraid.

I've made that as clear as I can. It's written from the viewpoint of an experienced festival worker who has worked at many, many events, from microscopic festivals in a single field up to Glastonbury. it's based on how this stuff works in reality for a lot of people. It's not about 'extra rights' it's about necessity.

Incidentally, I found a story from four years ago about festival goers at Reading having the chance to donate their unused food to local charities. Great stuff, but that's not what we're discussing here is it? Are we certain that local charities get a chance to actively scour the site for stuff? because I aint.

I understand what you're saying about how certain people have come to rely on the leftovers from festivals. I hope you understand what I'm saying about the benefits that local charities enjoy from being given the chance to utilise those leftovers. It is happening, I was there on Monday when the van was about to take off for Leeds festival to fill its boots. I don't like the fact that one set of needy people miss out over another but I suppose it looks good for the festival organisers social conscience.

 

[JTG]

I understand what you're saying about how certain people have come to rely on the leftovers from festivals. I hope you understand what I'm saying about the benefits that local charities enjoy from being given the chance to utilise those leftovers. It is happening, I was there on Monday when the van was about to take off for Leeds festival to fill its boots. I don't like the fact that one set of needy people miss out over another but I suppose it looks good for the festival organisers social conscience.

Well indeed. Shame people have to fight over scraps hey

Anyway, it's by no means universal across all festivals this stuff

 

[souljacker]

Update to the story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-23879805

Basically, all the crap is being sold by the Warren and District Residents association who will use the money to fix up the pavilion at my local park. Which is good news for me, my kids and the local football and cricket teams.

 

[JTG]

50 cans of booze.

Somebody got there first then