I went to the Glade and I had the most amazing time :weee: What a party :bounce_fl:bounce_fl:bounce_fland the music was great too.
The security people were helpful, the stewards were great, the welfare tent did a sterling job and I am amazed at how well the festival organisers coped with the bloody awful weather they had. Hats off to all the people who worked there – a fantastic job in the circumstances.raaaraaaraaaraaa
Yes it was a little muddy [ok a lot muddy] and getting round the site was a struggle because of all the mud but the vibe was amazing :love::love::love:
For what I paid for my ticket I got spectacular value and a great infrastructure which coped with some of the worst weather seen in the area in many years.
In fact I think the people on-site were much better off than the local residents – we had clean water, emergency services already on site, generators and toilets which were not connected to the drains. Yes there was a lot of mud but everyone pitched in and helped out everyone else and me and my mates had a fantastic time.
I saw from newsreports I read after I got home that some people thought it should have been called off and all of us sent home….How precisely did they think they would have coped had the festival been closed and all of us sent out to fend for ourselves off the site? The main access gate was under waist deep water for several hours which meant all the cars were stranded on the site – so 8000 to 10000 people leaving the site on foot looking for somewhere to go? a serious nightmare in those weather conditions and it would have overwhelmed any emergency accomodation which was available locally…..with people who were far safer and better off on the site.
The organisers did a great job under adverse conditions and should be applauded for the achievement of getting the festival up and running if a little late and keeping it going under those conditions. raaaraaaraaaraaa Go the hardcore party organisers – keep up the good work.
Given the mess on site I doubt that they will make a great deal of money out of this years festival – the cleanup may take weeks and I am betting that they have a clause in their hire contract for the site which will mean they have to fix the worst affected bits of it so it looks nice again. Add to that the fact that as I left the site a lorry had slipped into a ditch and will likely have needed a crane to pull it back onto the hard standing plus a hundred other weather related expenses and any profit will be eroded pretty fast. Also the insurance premiums for the site will undoubtedly rise as well.
I will happily take the time to save up and shell out for a ticket again – it was cheap in light of the choice of music available and the Health and Safety implementation which was present. Had the party been free none of the organisation like loos and water would have been there and we would have been literally up shit creek without a paddle as the accesses to the site were flooded for hours :hopeless:
I will post up some pictures at some point of the water levels etc so you can see what they were up against if you werent there.
I would once again like to thank the organisers for the valiant efforts they made to keep the festival going – big gold stars to all the staff who worked there for staying cheerful under the appalling weather condition raaaraaaraaa
[think next time I will pack my wellies though :wink:]
