Glastonbury Festival Steward Training
Within the music, sport and leisure industries, the event steward plays a vital role in ensuring the health, safety and comfort of spectators and thus contributing to the overall enjoyment of the event. It is now part of licensing conditions that event stewards should be trained to a suitable standard. It is agreed that there is a need to train and qualify stewards. A suitable standard of competency and qualification has now been adopted by the industry, the certificate in Event Stewarding.
Following two years of planning the development between Somerset College of Arts and Technology and Glastonbury Festival, the first Glastonbury Festival Certificates will be presented by Michael Eavis at 11a.m on Friday 29th June. During the past six months Glastonbury Festival stewards have been training hard and a total of 1,600 certificates will be issued soon. The stewards completed their training over two days and they have earned qualifications in Event Stewarding, First Aid, Fire Safety as well as achieving the Glastonbury Festival Stewards Certificate, which will become a requirement for any steward wishing to work at Glastonbury Festival. Mr David Speed, the Campsite Crew Manager, along with one of the stewards will be presented with their certificates. Somerset College of Arts and Technology are represented by Derek Tilley, Director of Business Development and Dave Hawkins, Work Based Manager. Many more stewards are booked on the course. Other colleges and training providers are also currently being accredited to deliver the training. Glastonbury Festival is committed to providing the best possible level of service to safety to the public and we believe this is a positive step towards achieving it.
	Michael Eavis said "In the light of the world focus on safety at outdoor events, particularly pop festivals, this upgrading of our stewarding standards is absolutely essential for the future of this event. I am very grateful to Martin Edwards for putting so much enthusiasm and time into this project. This is typical of the huge amount of energy which volunteers are prepared to put into the festival and I am delighted to present the first certificate on the 29th June."
Groups or individuals wishing to join the training programme should contact Martin Edwards, the Glastonbury Festival Crew training Co-ordinator on 07091 192 066.