UPPER Hale resident Dave Shurlock braved the heat at the Glastonbury Festival last week to volunteer for WaterAid, one of the festival’s official charity partners.

Dave was giving out free water refills from a water kiosk and helping gather tens of thousands of petition signatures for WaterAid’s summer campaign, which calls on the UK government to make sure that all government plans for schools globally include taps and toilets for every child.

Dave was part of an army of just under 500 WaterAid volunteers making a splash on Worthy Farm.

Dave said: “It was great to again be part of the WaterAid team at Glastonbury – soaking up the fantastic festival atmosphere while helping make a difference. This year the record temperatures were a different challenge to last year’s rain and mud.

“We opened the water kiosks for extra hours on the opening Wednesday to help festival goers to keep hydrated. People were very sympathetic to the cause as taps and toilets are never far from your mind at a festival.”

Globally, around one in three schools don’t have clean water or decent toilets. Without water and toilets, children get sick, miss lessons, or can’t concentrate in class, and girls drop out when they reach puberty.

#TheWaterFight aims to change this by making clean water and decent toilets normal for every child. The petition will be handed over to the Government in September.

Dave added: “It was a great opportunity to engage tens of thousands of people in water and sanitation issues. There was also time for some fun like performing a WaterAid themed song on the Mini Pyramid stage”

As well as handing out free drinking water to festival-goers WaterAid volunteers collected rubbish for recycling, kept the toilets clean and pleasant and helped manage the pilot scheme to introduce reusable stainless-steel cups.

Each WaterAid volunteer worked shifts of four to six hours a day – the same amount of time many in the developing world spend collecting water, leaving little time for education.

Find about more Dave’s time at Glastonbury or request a talk about WaterAid’s work for a school or community group online at www.wateraidwestsurrey.org or by calling 07934 839608.

For more information and to contribute to WaterAid’s #TheWaterFight campaign visit the website www.wateraid.org/uk/TheWaterFight.