Dear Eric....

Got this reply on Monday, thought they might offer me a deal, but didnt bunge an inch.

Hi Eric,

Thanks for your complaint. I'm sorry that our deposit policy has caused youto question your opinion of Oxfam. I'm happy to offer some explanation toour reasoning.

This is our first year of stewarding at Glade. Last year, this duty wascarried out by Wateraid, who experienced heavy losses at the festival, i.eof 120 volunteers rota ed on shift some 20 turned up to work. As a charitywe are reliant upon volunteers being honest and reliable and doing whatthey say they will do. We have had considerably more experience thanWateraid in providing a stewarding service, however, we are also veryaware of the nature of the Glade festival. It is a small, popular festival,with limited tickets. Similar to Glastonbury, there will be people tryingto get to the Glade who can't buy tickets. By setting the deposit price athigher than the ticket price, it is the only weight that we have to makesure that the less scrupulous applicants will not just see applying tosteward as another way of getting into the festival. It is alsoencouragement for those who are stewarding to make sure they work theirshifts, and therefore get their money back. This obviously does thenreflect upon the genuine volunteers who wouldn't have considered beinganything less than honourable, but isn't that case everywhere in life,there are always some who make things worse for others.

We don't look at taking a deposit as a fund raiser. As far as I'mconcerned, I would prefer to pay everyone back their money after thefestivals are done, because that means that everyone turned up and workedtheir shifts and we were able to provide a good and professional service.Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. We always provide a good andprofessional service, but usually this is because there are some volunteerswho are prepared to go above and beyond and cover the work of those whohave jumped ship.

The deposit system is not meant to make stewarding elitist, but most peoplewho want to steward understand our need to regulate, and find a way to getthe cash together, afterall, we are not keeping the money, just holding itfor you.I can also tell you that the deposits are not held in a high interestaccount, as we have to have immediate access to the money in order to payback people who drop out before the festivals - although maybe that is awasted opportunity!!!

I hope this has explained a little about why we have made these decisions.We are also more flexible than you give us credit for, but you can imaginethat I am not going to advertise: if you can't afford the deposit maybe wecan come to an arrangement - , as then I would be swamped, and as it is weprocess some 2,500 applications in the space of 3 months!

thanks

Judy