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WC News blog |
| The graffiti wall proved popular with Miles |
| Credit: WaterAid |
Over on the WaterAid stand, the Love your Loo theme was going down well with punters and, by lunchtime, the toilet graffiti wall was already getting full.
Among those expressing love for their loo was 11 year old Miles from Oxford, who wrote on the toilet wall that the loo was his favourite room in the house!
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| David couldn't be persuaded to take the costume off! |
| Credit: WaterAid |
One man who might contest David's claim, other than Jay-Z, is Glasto main-man Michael Eavis.
In the evening, Michael spoke at the charity press launch, declaring that Glastonbury 2008 would be a vintage, wellie-free year.
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| Michael Eavis gives WaterAid some wellie! |
| Credit: WaterAid |
Just after he finished speaking, the heavens opened...
Day two: Friday
Despite all the rain and mud, WaterAid had a great day both front-stage and back.
Getting out and about, our hard working team of signature collectors have already collected 6740 names for the End Water Poverty petition, helping us get ever close to the one million mark.
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| The End Water Poverty signature count after two days |
| Credit: WaterAid |
Rather appropriately, we spent a large portion of the day hanging around outside lady's loos! In normal circumstances you might get arrested for this sort of behaviour, but this is all in a day's work for WC News.
We caught up with a couple of first time she-pee-ers, Melanie and Katie from Manchester.
Unfortunately, for Katie it was a case of first-time nerves - she got stage fright!
Melanie thought they were a "really good idea, but hilarious... the WaterAid lady inside shows you how to do it and then you go into a little cubicle and it's just like being a bloke! I love my girl loo!!"
Backstage, WC News caught up with a tent load of celebs, including The Ting Tings, The Fratellis, We are Scientists, Jo Whiley and Pixie Geldof.
The Fratellis even played an acoustic number in the WaterAid pod (rather appropriately constructed from old plastic water bottles), while Jo Whiley told us she loved her loo "more than humus on crisps" (but not more than Jay-Z!).
But the most glamorous catch of the day was up and coming act The She Creatures, who declared their loo love while throwing a drop-dead gorgeous pose for our photographer.
Day three: Saturday
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| Competition winners Aidan (centre left) and Alan (centre right) |
| Credit: WaterAid |
Aidan from Glossop said, "It was amazing when we found out we were going to Glastonbury, we were getting ready for the camping immediately. The fact that Emily Eavis picked out our picture made it even better. The photo took about an hour to set up, with my girlfriend Anna suggesting what stuff we could collect from around the house to decorate it. We're just happy to be here."
Alan added, "It's really surprising, the toilets at Glastonbury really aren't as bad as people make out, they're much better than they have been in previous years."
Back-stage, James Blunt was among the visitors to the WaterAid pod, while front-stage our cute fluffy toilet was popping up in all sorts of unusual places.
By 4pm, the End Water Poverty totaliser reached a fantastic 9,400 signatures, so well done to all the volunteers who have been collecting sign-ups.
Day four: Sunday
On our final day, WC News found out more about some of the work being done by our brilliant WaterAid volunteers.
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| First-timer Rebecca from Colchester |
| Credit: WaterAid |
Rebecca, from Colchester in Essex, is a Glasto first-timer, and has been based up in the Green Field area of the site: "I've basically been petitioning, asking people in the loo queue to sign the End Water Poverty petition.
"The reaction has been really positive and everyone just loves the loos! It has been hard work - not massively hard work - but it's been brilliant. I've really enjoyed it and I'd definitely do it again."
Esther, from London, is another first-time volunteer: "It's been really fun. It's nice to have a bit of structure to your day because you know you have to go and do something for four hours. It's also fun being part of a team, and it's good to get out and about and talk to people about WaterAid. It's pretty chilled out up here
so it's a good place to talk to people.
"The job is to make sure the latrines are kept clean, giving them a rinse about every half hour. We keep them stocked with toilet water and soap. We also take donations for using the latrines, ask people to sign the petition, and offer them badges while they wait in the queue. Most people have heard of WaterAid, mainly because of the festival. They're a captive audience when they're in the queue!"
One of those in the queue was Mike from Scotland: "I came down here for the first time on Friday night and we used these wonderful latrines. Go WaterAid! Essentially it's a hole in the floor, not what I was expecting but that's ok, you deal with it, and the fact that I've come back three times since speaks volumes. I'm a regular customer!"
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| Oli (left) and Lawrence pause to pose for us |
| Credit: WaterAid |
Oli from Bristol and Lawrence from Leeds have been volunteering in the recycling team.
Lawrence: "Obviously there's lots of litter to pick up, but we also have the opportunity to talk to people, and a lot of people have been coming up to us to ask about WaterAid.
"One of the best things about volunteering is that you work pretty hard, which makes your time off all the more sweet. It feels like you're giving something back to the festival, so you enjoy yourself twice as much!"
Oli: "The work's not too bad at all, especially when the sun's shining. When we're not working, we've been enjoying ourselves and just trying to see as much as we can. You could spend a month here and still not see everything."
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| Duncan loving his loo! |
| Credit: WaterAid |
Before skipping off into the sunset for another year, WC News spoke to WaterAid's Glastonbury coordinator Duncan Wilbur:
"It's been excellent. We've had 150 volunteers across the site working diligently to get the festival crowd to Love their Loo and it's all gone done a storm.
"We've still got a full day's worth of signatures to count and we're already up to 15,000, so we're getting ever closer to the million mark for our G8 End Water Poverty petition.
"It's been a week long highlight, but it's always the dedication of all our volunteers that really stands out."
For more Glastonbury 2008 pictures and videos, visit the Leave no trace moblog (mobile blog) and WaterAid's Love your Loo image gallery .
