Watchet Festival news: Watchet Festival 2019…

Latest update from Watchet Festival
[ad_1]

Watchet Festival 2019

Behind the Scenes

Matt Stevens – Volunteer Stage Manager – The Udder Stage

On Tuesday evening I took a wander through Watchet and met up with Matt Stevens at the Bell Inn to catch up with him and find out about his volunteer work with Watchet Music Festival. Matt became a volunteer after seeing his older brother be part of the running of the Udder Stage for a number of years. At this time the main music was trance and quite hard core. At a later date Croissant Neuf were hired in to manage the stage and Matt volunteered to work alongside the staff and learn the skills needed to manage a busy stage environment with a regular change of musicians, artists and music equipment.

The Udder Stage is now the second main stage at the festival showcasing a variety of music/artists and artists from all genres. GCSL provide the lighting and sound .@gcsoundandlight.

Matt is supported by his family who are all actively involved with volunteering:

Kris, who jointly lead the team but predominantly looking after the Health and Safety aspects as well as supporting the sound and lighting teams.

Laine, Matt's Mum is very artistic and has over the years designed various Udder Stage sets, from Cow themes , to Vinyl and CD's to screens with live coverage of ongoing events at the festival, every year she would improve the look and every year gets amazing feedback.

Jerry Matt's dad volunteers with marshaling, tidy up and also helps out with the build and is often known for sampling each years Cheddar Valley for quality control!

Further volunteers are below, all without who the event could not happen. Screech-Helps with the build, Act welcome and compare for the first night Pete the poet-Saturday night Compare David Milton- Sunday night Compare. We also have what have now become an important part of the team after several years support, the Legg family, Esther, Dave , Grace and Matt, all of whom help marshal the event and Esther being our star 'Smoker catcher'!! We have had support for a few years from Karla Thresher who has become a settled member of the team. New to the team last year was Tim and Gemma Hughes, and Matt's Fiancé Sophie Bohun is join the team for the first time in 2019!. All make up a amazing support team who are totally dedicated to the festival.

What do you and your team do in the week before the festival ?

Festival life is not as glamorous as some people think! We start to build the Udder Stage a week before the festival ,we often start work at 9.00am and finish about 1.00am the following morning. It hard work and we are all dedicated to the job. Once the Stage is built then the hard work starts to make it look as spectacular as it does each year, we have the lighting added and the sound checks begin, part of the udder stages charm is the amazing lightning and sound so a big thank you goes out to Graham, Dave and the team.

How do you organise the Udder stage when the festival goes live ?

We don't see very much on the festival site , our time is spent in and around the stage , we work to a very strict timescale. Licensing laws state we must finish at 11.59.59. If we have delays of few minutes between acts this all adds up I have bee know to pull the plug before due to these delays. Your feet don't touch the ground as you are working with the artists/musicians and volunteers to showcase the festival at its best and give the festival goers a great experience. We as a team are organised, focussed and manage expectations.

What are your musical influences ? Meatloaf, Pink, Maroon 5, and Beautiful South to name a few . I am looking forward to seeing Embrace this year at the festival and hope to get a rota in place to see this band.

What do you gain from volunteering at the festival ? I feel very proud of the work I do and the work the Udder Stage team carry out. I enjoy giving something back to the community. To stand behind the main stage and see 600 people enjoying themselves gives me a great sense of achievement, you feel as if you have done something towards other peoples enjoyment .

It's full of magic moments, if you have not experienced a magic moment at the Watchet festival, it is not too late come along and experience one of your own!! Watchet Festival 2019

[ad_2]
Watchet Music Festival

Source