What was your first festival experience and did it spark an interest in the events industry ? The first festival I went to was V in 2003 , when I was 15 . My parents let me go for the whole weekend , I couldn ’ t believe they would let me do that , it was amazing . Coldplay , Red Hot Chili Peppers , PJ Harvey , Foo Fighters … such a great line-up . My love has always been music and going to gigs , I don ’ t think there ’ s been a year that has gone by where I haven ’ t been to at least one festival . I don ’ t think that festival sparked me wanting to work in this industry , but I did love it .

You started off as a journalist and have written for countless music titles , how did you become involved in festivals and did the skills cross over ?

The crossover was mostly in terms of the love I had for End of The Road . I started going to the festival in 2008 and totally fell in love with it . The following year I went back as a journalist , and have been every year since . During my tenure at Line of Best Fit , I began looking after our media partnership with End of The Road . I worked very closely delivering that package and started organising the secret performances around site , such as St Vincent doing a reading , and interactive playful things like a table tennis tournament between the bands .

In early 2014 , the festival ’ s cofounder Simon [ Taffe ] asked me to write all the copy for the festival programme . Later , he offered me a job . I had project management skills and knew the festival like the back of my hand . I think if you ’ re keen and smart you can learn anything , but you can ’ t learn to love something . They decided to hire me , and I came on board in 2015 alongside Rosanna Dean – we were both festival managers .

Can you give an example of a major challenge at EOTR that you overcame ? There have been so many . I feel like this job is constant firefighting , particularly when you ’ re onsite ,

but when you ’ ve got an amazing team around you that you know well , that ’ s how you get through those situations .

The site rarely gets waterlogged but we had a really bad weather year and a huge pond formed in the tepee village . This is why I love my team and End of The Road so much ; instead of throwing down straw and wood chip , they put a white picket fence around the water and threw in loads of rubber ducks and an inflatable shark ’ s head to make it a feature .

The challenges regarding Covid have been huge – 2021 was a nightmare organisationally , we lost our main beer supplier five weeks out , we lost our electric supplier four weeks out , our second stage supplier cancelled on us one week out . There were endless challenges . I think the next 12 months are going to be really trying with the supply chain and price increases .

So , what do you do to relax ? I have a little Beagle Cocker cross and I love taking her for long walks , I love swimming outdoors , seeing friends , and absolutely love going to festivals and gigs . Obviously that was decimated in the last few years so it ’ s great to have that back .

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