Volunteering at this year's Download was so much fun!!
This was my first Download and the first time I’ve worked a festival (and I came by myself). Needless to say I was quite nervous and I was unsure what to expect, but as soon as I pitched my tent fellow volunteers introduced themselves and made me feel very much at ease and even though I had never been to Download, I felt a sense of home and belonging.
My first shift was the Wednesday-Thursday night shift and was in the village. I was really nervous, I didn’t know anybody, wasn’t quite sure what to expect but the night shift village Dog Squad supervisor Josh, made the team feel very much at ease and instilled confidence in us.
It was a long shift, but not because of the shift or work itself but because I had been awake since half 3 the day before to get the bus down so as you can imagine I was pretty exhausted at the end of that shift, but I was surprised at how fun it was.
And that was just the first day, each day and each shift just continued to get better and better.
I would seriously recommend volunteering, and not just Download festival, but for Hotbox Events themselves and all the other festivals they cover. They are an amazing team of people and everyone looks out for each other and the will bend over backwards to help you and make things more workable and they make you feel like family.
If you are like me and have never done anything like this before and If you’re unsure and sat on the fence whether to do it or not I would wholeheartedly recommend you do it, I promise you, you won’t regret it!! It’s the best time and not only the work but you get plenty of time to enjoy the festival as a fan too.
Thank you so much Hotbox, you really made me feel at ease and like part of a family. Was a truly rockin’ rollin’ week.
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!!
You can find out what volunteering at festivals is like by checking out our festival volunteer interviews!
You can also find lots of info about every festival we volunteer with on our festival pages.
If you're looking for more try our festival volunteer photo galleries and festival volunteer forum!
You can apply to volunteer at music festivals by signing up to our online festival volunteer application!
Festival volunteer applications open at the beginning of Feb each year, with sometimes a few extra festivals to volunteer at added throughout the year.
We send a message to every volunteer who signs up when applications open!