Exciting changes for 2024 and community feedback

Plans are already underway for HEFF 2024 and Team HEFF have been busy reading your feedback and looking at ways we can make things better for you. We’ve got some exciting news to share and some reflections on the invaluable feedback we received after HEFF 2023. Your voices have been heard, and we’re committed to making HEFF even better, year after year.

What’s New for HEFF 2024?

HEFF 2024 is going to be the best HEFF yet. We’ve got so much in store for you.

• Optional Wi-Fi Upgrade
• Bookable Workspaces
• Easy, quick and Interactive Booking
• New Social Space
• Accessible Camping
• Stage Relocation
• Teen marquee
• Chill-out night

Optional Wi-Fi Upgrade: Stay connected with a Wi-Fi upgrade, ensuring you’re always able to get online when you need to.

Bookable Workspaces: Need a quiet spot to work? We’re introducing bookable workspaces equipped with desks, internet access, and tea/coffee facilities. These can be booked by the half day or full week.

Easy, quick and Interactive Booking: Our new booking system is much simpler and includes an interactive map for booking your EHU (Electric Hookup) pitches. You’ll be emailed a QR code that you can print or store on your phone and our crew will scan it on the gate when you arrive, making arrival much quicker too.

New Social Space: The stretch tent and social space are relocating to the area outside the Ingestre Suite, near the bandstand. This area is available for everyone to use, not just patrons of the food vendors.

Accessible Camping: We’re adding more accessible camping spaces at the top end of the site, along with extra accessible toilet and shower facilities. Accessibility is a priority to us and we know there are improvements to be made on this year’s festival. Anyone booking accessibility camping will now be able to choose from the pitches near the quiet area or the pitches at the top of the site (avoiding the slope).  

Stage Relocation: To make room for more workshops in quieter areas, the stage is moving to Sandylands. The Ingestre Suite will be split and provide a workshop space and indoor eating area.

There will be a teen marquee. Whoop Whoop! No more words needed.

Time to chill: We will also have a dedicated chill-out night where there won’t be any bands or DJs.

Responding to Your Feedback

Main Ring: Some of you asked why we didn’t use the Main Ring area this year. In 2024, we’ll be making full use of this space for various outdoor activities and workshops. The positive relationship we have built with Staffordshire Showground this year, allows us to explore more possibilities around the site. We would like to thank everyone who came this year for leaving the site in such great condition which is a part of why we are able to use more space next year.

Crew Only Space: The crew plays a crucial role in ensuring the festival runs smoothly, but sometimes they need a space where they can grab something to eat, get their own kids fed and have a break before going back on shift.

Festival Office: With it being a new venue for us this year, there were some teething issues with having a front office and a back office. We will have a better system in place for next year now we know how the site works and what people’s needs are. 

Sound Levels: We’d like to reassure you that the volume was continually checked and kept below legal limits at all times during the festival. However, your feedback about sound levels being too high has prompted us to reduce volumes in 2024, ensuring a comfortable experience for everyone. For those who love the loud bands, we hope you understand that this will enable people of all ages to enjoy the live music.

Workshop Scheduling Challenges: Managing a complex workshop schedule is not easy. We had several hundred workshops on offer this year and so it was a massive job to ensure everything went ahead with as little disruption as possible. Numerous factors have to be considered when creating the schedule, including workshop providers’ preferences, location suitability, clashes with main events such as the community meeting, tie-dye and the HEFF-a-mart. We’ll continue refining this process but it is impossible to create a schedule where no changes are made without drastically reducing the amount of workshops available. With over 50 workshops and activities each day, there are going to be some conflicts and changes, but we will try harder to communicate these to you in future. We did our best to keep everyone informed of the changes, but as some people are aware, this year we had to replace our workshop coordinator at very short notice and our new coordinator did an amazing job of keeping it all going. We got a lot of feedback saying how amazing they thought our workshop provision was, and we are very grateful for this. We hope that this explanation will enable people to get a better understanding of why the schedule has to change from time to time. 

General Information: We acknowledge that providing certain information before the festival starts is essential. We encourage you to visit our website and join our Facebook community group for early access to crucial details. We are also looking at switching our announcements during the festival to a WhatsApp community where you can choose to subscribe to certain channels such as band/performance announcements, workshop changes and general festival news. 

Safe Space for All: HEFF is an inclusive and safe space for everyone, including LGBTQ+ individuals and families, people with disabilities and other underrepresented groups. We’re committed to upholding these principles and will not tolerate discrimination or bullying. If you are aware of anything like this happening during the festival, please do come and talk to us.

Your feedback is invaluable and it fuels our dedication to improving HEFF year after year. We hope this insight into our decision making processes and the changes for HEFF 2024 helps you understand our commitment to creating a fantastic festival experience for everyone.

Stay tuned for more updates, and let’s make HEFF 2024 an unforgettable gathering of our extraordinary community.