The amazing things that happened at Glastonbury this year with WaterAid
WaterAid has partnered with Glastonbury Festival for several years, and their support has helped to make our work transforming lives possible.
Here are some highlights of what happened at Glastonbury Festival this year.
The incredible support for our cause
From headliners The Killers and TV and Radio presenter Maya Jama to film star and musician Jeff Goldblum, we received incredible support for our cause, working towards reaching everyone everywhere with clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.
Collectable limited edition badges designed by Ringo Starr, The Cure, Sigrid, Neneh Cherry and more
Beatles legend Ringo Starr, iconic goth-pop band The Cure, singer-songwriters Sigrid and Neneh Cherry, and visual artist David Shrigley designed these special badges to raise awareness about the millions of people who have their access denied to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene.
The official Glastonbury Festival 2019 badge completed the set, designed on behalf of the Eavis family by Stanley Donwood - known for creating artwork for Radiohead.
The Loovre
WaterAid brought ‘The Loovre’ – (probably) the first ever art gallery in a toilet cubicle – to Glastonbury Festival, which provided the most cultural convenience on Worthy Farm.
The unique presentation in the privy featured some of the world's most famous pieces of artwork with a toilet twist to highlight the 1 in 4 people across the world who have no toilet of their own. Check out our film for a glance inside.
You got Fempowered – and ladies peed standing up!
Ladies, ever wondered what it’s like to pee standing up? We explained how to use the funnels at our female urinal area!
For anyone on their period there was a special spot with free products in case anyone was caught out.
We also promoted WaterAid's new product, Fempowered – a little box that does big things. It’s a monthly eco-friendly period products subscription box, and all proceeds go towards WaterAid’s work supporting women and girls around the world to manage their periods with dignity.
We kept everyone hydrated without un-fantastic plastic
We were so thrilled that single use plastic was banned at Glastonbury Festival this year. We provided free water at 37 water kiosks across the site.
This year, we ran our biggest festival water service ever. As well as the water kiosks, our incredible volunteers, the ‘Water Welcomers’ kept you hydrated in queues.
We also had volunteers on hand maintaining new self-service bottle refill stations so everyone could refill their bottles at any time of the day.
The big tap
One of the biggest challenges at any festival is finding your friends and meeting up with people.
Our big tap provided the perfect meeting spot, and with some seating there, a chance to rest your behind for a few moments, before checking out the next fun thing to do.
It was located by the Bread and Roses bar.
The Loo Crew
It's not the most pleasant job, but our incredible volunteers did it to make the experience that much better! This year we had 250 Loo Crew volunteers and they cleaned 2,663 out of a total 5,000 toilets at the festival!
The teams worked across the site, 24 hours a day, all weekend to make sure the toilets were kept clean and tidy. What heroes.
Our amazing volunteers
We couldn’t have done any of this without all of our amazing volunteers. We took our biggest team of volunteers ever to Glastonbury Festival this year, and provided water, toilet and sanitation services and raised awareness of our work around the world. Volunteers helped with recycling, keeping guests - and even plants - hydrated!
We had some long-timers, who continued to show their passion for the WaterAid cause, and fresh faces who became part of the family.
Some of our volunteers showed their support on their journey over - team ‘Blasto to Glasto’ cycled from the Scottish highlands to Glastonbury in a relay challenge to raise money for WaterAid before becoming part of the Loo Crew! Now that’s commitment!
Augmented reality from Pakistan, Nepal and Malawi
We took you around the world, with musicians and performers from Pakistan, Nepal and Malawi sharing their stories through augmented reality.
Stories like Umeed's. Umeed is a labourer from Southern Pakistan. His passion for dance has brought him fame in surrounding villages, and he often gets asked to perform at weddings and events.
Dancing is thirsty work, but saline contamination in his own village means Umeed has to go long distances to get water that’s safe to drink.
We shared more stories of talented people around the world and how no access to clean water affects them.