Glastonbury donates hand sanitiser, gloves and masks to emergency services

Glastonbury Festival has donated thousands of litres of hand sanitiser, gloves and face masks to frontline emergency services responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

The supplies were due to be used during the now-postponed 50th anniversary of the music festival, which was scheduled to take place in June.

Michael and Emily Eavis, the event’s organisers, previously confirmed that tickets for this year will roll over into 2021.

Avon and Somerset Police posted images on Twitter showing a tractor placing supplies into a van, as well as a police vehicle being loaded with boxes of medical-grade gloves.

“On behalf of the A&S Local Resilience Forum we’d like to extend a huge thank you to Michael & @emilyeavis for providing frontline emergency service workers & NHS staff with thousands of litres of hand sanitiser, gloves and face masks due to be used @glastonbury 2020,” the force tweeted.

The festival announced on 18 March that its 50th anniversary event would have to be postponed until 2021.

In a statement, organisers said cancelling the 2020 event was the “only viable option”, adding that it was a “terrible blow to our incredible crew and volunteers”.

Glastonbury, which draws around 200,000 people to Worthy Farm in Somerset, was due to take place from 24-28 June.

US rapper Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney were due to headline the festival, with Diana Ross listed as playing the Sunday Legends slot.

Other music acts on the line-up included Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello and Pet Shop Boys, as well as rockers Sam Fender, Blossoms, Haim and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.