Heidelberg UK partners with the Glastonbury Festival Free Press

Print Solutions

This year, Heidelberg UK is partnering with the Glastonbury Festival Free Press. The Glastonbury Free Press, the Festival newspaper, is printed in the Theatre & Circus fields, along with a series of posters with a different theme each year, that are sold during the course of the festival.

The newspaper is now in its 12th year of production. Tens of thousands of copies are printed, by hand, over the course of the festival each year. These copies are distributed for free around the festival at different locations and times. It utilises a vintage 1950’s seven tonne Heidelberg Cylinder Press to prepare and print the four page festival newspaper.

The 70 year-old Cylinder press, which is still in perfect running condition, stands testament to the long and storied history of Heidelberg in the printing industry. The fundamental advantage of a cylinder press is that the impression of paper on type only has to be delivered in a small strip – the point where the cylinder touches paper and type. Other presses have to get an impression across the whole area of the type at once. This means cylinder presses can use a greater force with greater precision that their platen equivalent. The Heidelberg press attracts young enthusiasts and veterans from Fleet Street alike, fascinated by the hands-on approach to newspaper creation in the digital age.

As part of the partnership, Heidelberg will provide an apprenticeship to a young person from the festival and its partners. This apprentice will receive training as a printing machine engineer.

‘We are thrilled to partner with the Glastonbury Free Press,’ said Ryan Miles, managing director, Heidelberg UK. ‘The Free Press at Glastonbury is a real piece of Heidelberg history. This year, Heidelberg celebrates its 175th anniversary, creating the perfect opportunity to give back to the local community. We are delighted to be able to give a young person working in the festival the opportunity to be part of the Heidelberg Apprentice Scheme.’

The Glastonbury Festival 2025 will run from Wednesday 25 to Sunday 29 June, 2025. The Free Press section will operate on all five days of the festival to print produce thousands of copies of the Free Press’ newspaper as well as creative posters for sale.