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Miserable auld folks need not apply.
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Miserable auld folks need not apply.
Happy auld folks are welcome, but experience suggests this might be more appreciated by, and appropriate to, the younger generations. Back in the pre-Vanilla days, I used to post this invitation annually on The Other Forum, and it did generate a regular trickle of interest, though not as much as through old-fashioned networking.
Anyhow: if you, or someone you know, fancies a cheap holiday and padding out their CV with work experience in a genuine international context, my friendly neighbourhood festival is looking for volunteers. Terms, conditions, advantages, etc, are as follows :-
- 12-17 July
- just outside the town of La Châtre in the centre of France, about 2.5hrs south of Paris (specifically, in the grounds of the Château d'Ars)
- nearest railway station : Châteauroux ; nearest airports Tours, Limoges, Orly, Charles-de-Gaulle
- two shifts of three hours work per day, 13-16 July (the other two days are for setting up, taking down [no limit on spending longer before/after])*
- the "working day" runs from 0930 to 0530 depending on position, shifts can be any time within that range
- positions available:
== Ticket office (0930-0100)
== General reception (0930-0100)
== Access control (0930-0330)
== Bar staff (1000-0430ish)
== Grill staff (1000-0000ish)
== Behind-the-scenes catering (0930-2230ish)
== Instrument storage* (0930-0430)
- two proper (three-course) meals a day (13-16 July) + extra free drink
- free camping (basic)*
- free entry to all festival acts/activities (subject to working hours)
- ability to speak French is useful but not necessarily required (depends on the position; crash course in essential vocab available on demand)*
* Instrument storage is my area of responsibility, for which I'm given half the castle, and I'm a hard task master ... but we also have one of the best performing teams and possibly the highest level of "job satisfaction" out of all of them. However, I also mentor/babysit some Irish and British volunteers working in other areas, will certainly help with the language if needed, and can go so far as to supplying accommodation (i.e. a tent! ) and reference for your next job interview. If I have big enough bunch of misfits (4-10), we set up our own mini-village in the campsite.
The festival (crappy website here) is dedicated to traditional music, dance, and the making of acoustic instruments (see video here), but that's almost irrelevant: what we really need are people who aren't interested in going to every dance, every workshop and every concert, but who want to actually work ... and have a damn good time doing so.
Any questions? You know where to find me.
Anyhow: if you, or someone you know, fancies a cheap holiday and padding out their CV with work experience in a genuine international context, my friendly neighbourhood festival is looking for volunteers. Terms, conditions, advantages, etc, are as follows :-
- 12-17 July
- just outside the town of La Châtre in the centre of France, about 2.5hrs south of Paris (specifically, in the grounds of the Château d'Ars)
- nearest railway station : Châteauroux ; nearest airports Tours, Limoges, Orly, Charles-de-Gaulle
- two shifts of three hours work per day, 13-16 July (the other two days are for setting up, taking down [no limit on spending longer before/after])*
- the "working day" runs from 0930 to 0530 depending on position, shifts can be any time within that range
- positions available:
== Ticket office (0930-0100)
== General reception (0930-0100)
== Access control (0930-0330)
== Bar staff (1000-0430ish)
== Grill staff (1000-0000ish)
== Behind-the-scenes catering (0930-2230ish)
== Instrument storage* (0930-0430)
- two proper (three-course) meals a day (13-16 July) + extra free drink
- free camping (basic)*
- free entry to all festival acts/activities (subject to working hours)
- ability to speak French is useful but not necessarily required (depends on the position; crash course in essential vocab available on demand)*
* Instrument storage is my area of responsibility, for which I'm given half the castle, and I'm a hard task master ... but we also have one of the best performing teams and possibly the highest level of "job satisfaction" out of all of them. However, I also mentor/babysit some Irish and British volunteers working in other areas, will certainly help with the language if needed, and can go so far as to supplying accommodation (i.e. a tent! ) and reference for your next job interview. If I have big enough bunch of misfits (4-10), we set up our own mini-village in the campsite.
The festival (crappy website here) is dedicated to traditional music, dance, and the making of acoustic instruments (see video here), but that's almost irrelevant: what we really need are people who aren't interested in going to every dance, every workshop and every concert, but who want to actually work ... and have a damn good time doing so.
Any questions? You know where to find me.
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Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
I don’t think they’re paying anything but you wouldn’t be interested anyway.
Well, it’s in France. It’s full of foreigners. You’d hate that.
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Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
On the sherry again, it’s ok let it out. We are all friends here.
Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
TBF if Id love to jack in the job to persue something like this
"Celtic jerseys are not for second best, they don't shrink to fit inferior players." - Jock Stein
Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
MOD NOTE: The friend/foe function is there for a reason, please use it rather than being a dick.
Perhaps you missed this in two other threads?
Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
Sounds like a fun festival. I'm working here though, saving up for a winter jaunt somewhere nice. Plus I'm not very biddable and can be grumpy, so lucky for you I won't be taking the offer. I'd tell the one wanderer kid but she's got plans for July and August further north. But maybe one of the years she would go.
Thinking out loud, and trying to be occasionally less wrong...
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Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
Food, drink and a place to pitch your tent.
No-one gets paid, apart from the sound and lighting guys and one event coordinator. All the rest of us managerial types bring our transferable skills and work 18-hour days for the fun of it.
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Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
'Tis only a week (plus travelling time either side).
Mind you, there are plenty of folk who effectively switch to professional volunteering for the summer, going from one festival to another for three or four months. It's a really cheap way to live. I'm too fond of my garden and renovation projects, though, so I only do a few others on and off. This is the only one where I've got serious responsibility (and it is pretty serious, given the value of the instruments we look after ).
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Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
Grand. It's a recurring event - always the weekend closest to (or including) the 14th July.isha wrote: ↑Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:44 pm Sounds like a fun festival. I'm working here though, saving up for a winter jaunt somewhere nice. Plus I'm not very biddable and can be grumpy, so lucky for you I won't be taking the offer. I'd tell the one wanderer kid but she's got plans for July and August further north. But maybe one of the years she would go.
On that point, the one thing you won't ever see are Bastille Day fireworks! We leave that kind of thing to the peasants.
Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
It would be great craic,I remember when I younger,older cousins going off fruit picking in Europe to avoid the dole inspectors,and they had a ball by all accountsCelticRambler wrote: ↑Fri Apr 21, 2023 9:53 pm 'Tis only a week (plus travelling time either side).
Mind you, there are plenty of folk who effectively switch to professional volunteering for the summer, going from one festival to another for three or four months. It's a really cheap way to live. I'm too fond of my garden and renovation projects, though, so I only do a few others on and off. This is the only one where I've got serious responsibility (and it is pretty serious, given the value of the instruments we look after ).
"Celtic jerseys are not for second best, they don't shrink to fit inferior players." - Jock Stein
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Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
I was in France once. A strange place. The natives didn't even speak English
- Del.Monte
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Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
But they understand if you speak slowly and loudly.Happy Days wrote: ↑Sun Apr 23, 2023 7:49 am I was in France once. A strange place. The natives didn't even speak English
'no more blah blah blah'
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Re: Miserable auld folks need not apply.
True story: a few months after we moved into the area, while casually browsing the aisles in the local supermarket with MrsCR, the guy in charge of White Goods and other domestic appliances came rushing up to us with an urgent look on his face and a gas regulator in his hand. "S'il vous plait," sez he, "can you tell me what this is called in English?" We did, and he darted off to sell it to some English immi... ex-pats.Happy Days wrote: ↑Sun Apr 23, 2023 7:49 am I was in France once. A strange place. The natives didn't even speak English
He'd got to know us from our frequent fact-finding, price-comparing, appliance-purchasing trips in the previous weeks.