A Teesside water worker, employed by Northumbrian Water, has volunteered to help clean-out the loos of thousands of festival-goers at this year′s Glastonbury Festival, as part of international charity WaterAid′s Loo Crew.
Thirty-six year old Marc Taylor, who works as a process technician in Northumbrian Water′s Wastewater Energy Efficiency Team, is packing his wellies and getting ready to head down to Worthy Farm to meet with other volunteers from across the country.
While others are spinning around to Kylie and dancing along to The Killers, Brotton-born Marc will be taking on the challenge of keeping Glastonbury′s long-drop toilets clean and the handwashing facilities well stocked.
The team of Loo Crew volunteers will be helping to make the festival experience more enjoyable for the 175,000 revellers, from Wednesday, June 26 to Sunday, June 30.
Marc, said: "I have supported WaterAid for around five years and I′m delighted to have been selected to join the Loo Crew team at Glastonbury this year.
"I′ll be working long shifts and helping to raise awareness of the millions of people who are denied access to clean water and decent toilets, and supporting WaterAid′s work to address this injustice. It′s a great opportunity to engage with thousands of people who are attending the festival for a cause that I feel passionately about.
"When I′m not volunteering and cleaning loos - I′m really looking forward to seeing The Killers, Fatboy Slim and Carl Cox. I would love to meet them."
Marc will be joined by six of his co-workers, who are doing a range of volunteer roles and being supported through Northumbrian Water′s employee Just an Hour programme. The volunteer programme supports employees to give a minimum of 15 hours every year to support charitable and community causes close to their hearts.
WaterAid has been a charity partner of Glastonbury since 1994, supporting the services and highlighting its work to provide clean water and sanitation to the 844 million people living without clean water and the 2.3 billion with nowhere safe to go to the toilet.
This year, there will be a record number of more than 600 WaterAid volunteers at the renowned festival, providing water, collecting rubbish for recycling, cleaning the toilets and running the She-Pees.
Come rain, shine, or mud, Marc will complete shifts of four to six hours a day - the same amount of time many, mostly women and girls, in the developing world spend collecting water.