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Ebbw Vale festival putting volunteers centre-stage.

On a mountain top in Ebbw Vale, a dedicated team of volunteers are busily preparing for the opening weekend of the Steelhouse Rock Festival.

The festival, now in its 14th year, is an annual 3-day event attracting over 16,000 visitors and an extensive team of devoted volunteers.

The volunteer programme sees over 100 people supporting the event each year, with many finding it the perfect stage to gain experiences which have allowed them pursue careers in events and creative industries.

21-year-old Aeddan Shipp has been coming to Steelhouse Festival with his family since he was 8. As he got older, he started helping his parents dress the arena and developed a passion for production after watching the professional crews rig, light and setup the stage.

He soon moved to helping the stage crew at Steelhouse to run change overs during show time. This real stage experience has inspired him to undertake a Sound, Lighting and Live Events Technology BSc at USW Atrium, Cardiff and he is now actively pursuing a career.

Aeddan said:

It’s been a surreal experience volunteering at the festival. I see it now as a second home and the crew and volunteers as a second family and lifelong friends. The experience I’ve gained from setting up the arena to working on the stage has helped me find my career niche and help me grow as a person and gain confidence within myself.

Steelhouse began in 2011 and has grown steadily from 1,200 to the 16,000 visitors they now see across the weekend. Welsh Government, through Events Wales, have helped fund the event since 2015.

As volunteers are so essential to the running of the festival, it offers training programmes including in hospitality, catering, stage management and IT. This year they have also appointed a Volunteer Welfare and Well-Being Officer, Betty Thomas.

In her day job Betty manages the educational outreach programmes for the Royal Mint Museum. But for the past 12 years, however, she has taken charge of cooking for the festival crew along with some of rock music’s biggest global stars.

She came to the first festival in 2011 as a ticket holder but within a year she had a job there. Betty says the greatest privilege in her work has been cooking for the volunteers who - year after year - volunteer their time and take their annual leave to make the festival the success that it has become.

Following the pandemic, a new 3-year funding agreement was secured for the festival from Events Wales which will run until 2025. The economic impact of last year’s event alone to the local area was almost £1 million.

Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, Chief Executive of Wales Council for Voluntary Action, said:

This festival is a brilliant example of what can be achieved by volunteers and what they get back for their amazing efforts! Volunteers are at the heart of many communities in Wales, with 1 in 3 people giving their time each year and gaining valuable skills, experiences, connections and positively impacting their wellbeing.

Volunteers are of course a huge asset to the organisations and projects that involve them, providing fresh energy, insights and additional skills. Beyond this, volunteering strengthens the fabric of the wider community, leading to a more resilient, connected and thriving society. The stories of volunteers that have contributed to The Steelhouse Festival demonstrate the power of volunteering and the difference that volunteers can make. Da iawn pawb!

Most vendors and traders at the festival are Welsh businesses, selling Welsh products, and nearly all infrastructure and services are brought in via Welsh suppliers.

The Minister for Creative Industries, Jack Sargeant, said:

The Steelhouse Festival is a made-in-Ebbw-Vale success story with an exemplary focus on developing and training its committed volunteer workforce.

What a fantastic model of how an entrepreneurial labour of love, assisted with funding support, can grow to benefit a whole community and provide a huge return on investment for the Welsh economy.

The masterminds behind Steelhouse Festival are Max Rhead & Mikey Evans, both from Ebbw Vale where the festival takes place. Having met at the age of 13 in Ebbw Vale Senior Comprehensive, they soon became bandmates, before going into the events business together in 2010 when Mikey moved back to Wales. A year later the rock festival was born. Mikey said:

From the outset, our volunteers have been the lifeblood of Steelhouse Festival, we are very lucky to have such an amazing team of individuals who are ready to give so much to the event. Each one comes with his or her own special backstory and their hard work and commitment help make the event what it is - we're so grateful to them all.

Steelhouse will welcome artists from Canada, USA, Mexico, Germany, Ireland alongside some of Wales’ own home-grown talent over the weekend of 26 to 28 July.