LOCAL COMMUNITY

Last year, we were excited to lay down new roots in Wimborne St Giles, a beautiful new home that we can return to year after year and develop the future of We Out Here.

Within our long-term development plans lies our commitment to positively impacting this local area; returning the favour of the warm welcome and incredible support we have been shown so far. Alongside these plans (more info below), we have special discounted tickets available to those who live nearby.

Our Community Catchment is defined as those living in the villages of: 

Wimborne St Giles   •    Monkton Up Wimborne   •    Cranborne   •    Boveridge

Edmondsham   •    Sutton Holmes   •    Woodlands   •    Knowlton   •    Horton

Gussage St Michael   •    Gussage All Saints   •    Brockington   •    Chalbury   •    Moor Crichel

Long Crichel   •    Manswood   •    Hinton Martell   •    Uppington  •   Witchampton

Contact Us

You can contact the festival’s Community Liaison Team via email at community@weoutherefestival.com if you’ve got any questions or would like to be added to our Community Mailing List to receive information and invitations directly (stating your village of residence). We will reply to all emails within 7 working days. 

If you’d rather have a chat, drop us an email and we’re happy to organize a good time for a call.

In the months leading up to and after the event: 

  • We will issue digital community-specific information and updates via our Community Mailing list.
  • We will carry out leaflet drops with key event information to all properties within our Community Catchment. 
  • We will host a series of Community Meetings, details of which will be shared with Knowlton and Cranborne & Edmondsham Parish Councils, via our community mailouts and leaflet drops.
  • We will have a Community Hotline operational 24/7 when the event is live so you can call us at any time.

Accessibility

We Out Here strives to be a festival that welcomes everyone. 

You will find lots of useful information on our Accessibility page and you can also email community@weoutherefestival.com who can support you in exploring how we can meet your individual needs at the festival with the Accessibility team.

Accommodation

There are a variety of accommodation options available at the festival if you are coming for the weekend and would like to stay over. 

All Weekend Community Ticket holders will have access to the General Campsite as standard. If you have purchased a day ticket, you will not have access to the Campsite.

More information can be found on our Accommodation page. If you have any questions that haven’t been answered by this page, please contact info@weoutherefestival.com who will be happy to help.

Family Activities

We Out Here is proudly a family-friendly festival; a space for families to explore and enjoy music, arts and culture together! Tickets for children under 15 are available free of charge, and can be added in at point of booking.

More information can be found on our Family Page. If you have any questions that haven’t been answered by this page, please contact info@weoutherefestival.com who will be happy to help.

Festival Entry

You will be directed to the main festival entrance by signage in the surrounding area, and once arrived, you will be directed to park up and enter the festival via the festival’s Main Entrance Gate.

If you are a resident of Wimborne St Giles and will be walking to the festival, please email us on community@weoutherefestival.com for details of the specific WSG Residents Festival Entry & Access route.

Gate opening times are listed here

Festival Dates and Times

We Out Here festival production will be moving into St Giles Park from 2nd August 2024, and moving out by 26th August 2024.

We Out Here festival customer arrivals will be spread across Thursday 15th and Friday 16th August, and departures across Sunday 18th August and Monday 19th August.

Entertainment will cease no later than midnight on Thursday and Sunday, and 04:00 on Saturday (Friday night / Saturday morning) and Sunday (Saturday night / Sunday morning) as per licenced timings for the event.

Get Involved

Get in touch with us if you want to get involved, or simply tell us what matters to you via community@weoutherefestival.com.

Other opportunities to get involved:

    • We run our Volunteer scheme via My Cause (see more info here).
    • Our trader applications are now open for our Sustainable Fashion Market & Craft Market: see more info here.

Highways

  • Plans have been developed alongside Dorset Council Highways for a robust system of speed and flow controls on the B3078, which will operate as a 30mph Thursday – Monday. An improved signage and staffing schedule will support this based on our first-year learnings.
  • We encourage car sharing and put on both a national coach service between major UK cities and the site, and a local shuttle service between Salisbury train station and the site.
  • We have significant internal space within the event site to bring vehicles into the event before checking accreditation to eliminate the possibility of vehicles queueing on the highway.

Lineup

You can find the musical lineup so far here, which will be updated as we get closer to with full day-by-day running orders.

We also have a wide-spanning programme of Talks, Family & Wellness activities, a Record Store, a lake for Wild Swimming, a Roller Rink, and independent craft markets. You can read more about these here, and all are free to access.

Our Local Impact

Looking Back

In 2023, we aimed to:

  • Foster long terms ties with, and create positive economic and social impact for, the local community
  • Take action to leave an ecological legacy within the festival and community
  • Commit, and create accountability around, the sustainability of the event
  • Explore and understand our impact on the community

How did we do this?

  • Engaged over 50 local businesses, from breweries to food and craft traders, marquee suppliers to technical contractors, yoga instructors to children’s workshop providers.
  • Gave programming slots to 23 local DJs.
  • Supported local schools, village halls, charities, community groups, and organisations via donations and project partnerships.
  • Welcomed over 500 of the Local Community to the festival.
  • Began a relationship with A Greener Festival , who monitored all our sustainable practices and gave us advice on how to best move forward
  • Being located in Cranborne Chase, an ‘International Dark Sky Reserve’,  we worked closely with the Cranborne Chase team to understand and protect the starry nights over the festival. At the festival, we reduced light throw by fitting 2,800 cones on our festival lights (by hand!) and our staging teams also worked hard to reduce any upward throw at night.  we are now officially ‘Dark Sky Friendly’, with 3* accreditation awarded by the Cranborne team. We’re looking forward to building on this in future years.
  • Commissioned a Local Economic impact study to look at how we are impacting the local area.
Looking Forward

In 2024, we are aiming to:

  • Create meaningful impact in the local area 
  • Foster our existing and build new relationships with local community partners, charities and community groups
  • Include more local suppliers, traders and organizations
  • Improve our green credentials with A Greener Festivals from ‘Improvers’ to the next rung.
  • Uphold and improve on our Dark Skies Accreditation

To do this, we need your help! Get in touch with us if you have ideas for how we can create a meaningful impact for your community, if you want to get involved and contribute to the event, or simply to tell us what matters to you.

Safety, Welfare & Facilities

We want everyone to feel safe, to look after themselves, and each other.

More information can be found on our Safety, Welfare & Facilities Page. You can also contact community@weoutherefestival.com who will be happy to help with any unanswered questions or concerns.

 

Sound Management

  • We have used sound modeling, and learnings from 2023, to inform all of our site and audio design to minimise off-site sound impact.
  • Sound Levels set by Dorset Council Environmental Health team will be monitored by specialized devices both on and off-site. The data from those devices will available to both our Sound Management Team and Dorset Council in real-time to respond to any issues.

  • We have a team in the neighbourhood monitoring for noise & keeping the music within the permitted levels. As a result of reports of noise, they may attend your location to assess impact.

  • We will have a 24/7 Phone Line to report any issues, which will be logged and responded to as required.

Tickets – Residents of Wimborne St Giles

Residents of Wimborne St Giles

  • Local Residents tickets are available for those living in Wimborne St Giles free of charge.
  • Weekend Ticket holders will have access to the 4 days of the event, including general camping and a free car parking pass. There are no community-specific discounts or allocations available for glamping or campervans. If you wish to book these please see our Accommodation page.
  • Day Ticket holders will have access to their chosen day of the event and a free car parking pass.
  • Please complete our Ticket Request Form, following which the Community Liaison Team will be in touch within 2 weeks. 
  • All tickets must be requested via this form and will only be approved upon supply of proof of address and matching ID. Please note you can only apply for people within your household.
  • Approved requests will receive a private link for booking designated tickets, following which a booking confirmation will be supplied. All tickets will be issued 1 week before the event. More information will be provided upon approval.

Tickets – Residents of Local Community

Residents of the Local Community

  • Local Community tickets are available for those living in Monkton Up Wimborne, Cranborne, Boveridge, Edmondsham, Sutton Holmes, Woodlands, Knowlton, Horton, Gussage St Michael, Gussage All Saints, Brockington, Chalbury, Moor Crichel, Long Crichel, Manswood , Hinton Martell, Uppington and Witchampton 
  • Festival Weekend Tickets are available for the Weekend at a special rate of £60. Ticket holders will have access to the 4 days of the event, including general camping and a free car parking pass. There are no community-specific discounts or allocations available for glamping or campervans. If you wish to book these please see our Accommodation page.
  • Single Day Tickets (Thursday 15th, Friday 16th, Saturday 17th, Sunday 18th) at £20. Ticket holders will have access to their chosen day of the event and a free car parking pass.
  • Under 15s go free.
  • Please complete our Ticket Request Form, following which the Community Liaison Team will be in touch within 2 weeks
  • All tickets must be requested via this form and will only be approved upon supply of proof of address and matching ID. Please note you can only apply for people within your household. 
  • Approved requests will receive a private link for booking designated tickets, following which a booking confirmation will be supplied. All tickets will be issued 1 week before the event. More information will be provided upon approval.

Tickets – Terms & Conditions

  • Proof of address and matching photographic identification, corresponding to your ticket, will also be required upon first entry to the festival.
  • We Out Here is a family-friendly festival that welcomes all ages. However, we do require that all children tickets (under 18 years) are purchased with an adult ticket (18+ years). We request that all under 18s be accompanied by the adult their ticket was purchased with at the Box Office on arrival. We request that all under 18s be accompanied by a responsible Adult aged 21+ who will be attending for the duration of the festival.
  • The Event Terms and Conditions are listed here
  • Acceptable forms of ID are listed here

Your Feedback

2023 Feedback & looking forward to improving your experience:

Feedback from both our local and customer communities is so important to help us shape the future of the festival and improve your experience.

Our customer survey generated a set of commitments we’ve made to improve the festival experience for all of our attendees. More information can be found here.

In addition, our Local Community feedback highlighted some themes that we’ve set out to address in 2024.

  • Entry and Access for Wimborne St Giles residents
    • We have developed a new entry and access route for Wimborne St Giles residents to make your daily journey to and from the festival that little bit easier. Please email community@weoutherefestival.com for more information. 
  • Entry and Access for those with Accessibility requirements
  • Highway safety and signage
    • We have redesigned our deliveries and staff arrival area to minimise the risk of impacting local roads
    • We have added resource to our peak arrival days to minimise the risk of impacting local roads
    • We have reviewed our local traffic signage plan, specifically focussed on hyper-local signage to safely direct vehicles who don’t follow the advertised routes
  • Campervans pitch availability
    • We have redesigned our campsites to increase the number of campervan pitches available 
  • Affordability of food
    • We will better communicate our affordable meal offering, whilst continuing to focus on working alongside traders who not only offer great quality food, but also those who pay fair living wages, support charities or initiatives, and use sustainable packaging and products. 

Your feedback on toilets, connectivity, and sound are areas covered by our Customer Commitments. 

Book tickets