Glastonbury Festival was as jam-packed as ever this year, holding some classic headliners such as Blur and Bruce Springsteen. Along with these popular headline acts, came the not so talked about but equally anticipated acts on slightly smaller stages, including the Wombats, who created the most electrical atmosphere at the John Peel tent, not just at the front where some of us were lucky enough to be. Plus the Prodigy, who constantly kept the crowd on their feet with their show-stopping antics.

The festival is not only about ready-famous bands, but up and coming artists are scattered all over the site, performing on various, smaller stages, trying to make a name for themselves. One of these bands that really stood out to me was Major Major, delivering some outstanding new tunes that had the whole crowd dancing on their feet, and half the band dancing in the audience. The atmosphere was buzzing.

All of this amazing talent has to have somewhere to spend time away from frantic fans, so what better place than backstage? No mere mortal can access this star-studded area however. When it came to backstage passes, it is not about what you know, it's about who you know.

There is always one advantage of having friends who own the beer company Glastonbury Ales, when they can take you to the stars. Once inside this top security area, the excitement of the celebrity world hit us. Almost as soon as we got on the mud road we stumbled into Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw, who was busying himself talking to his assistant crew or signing fans autographs, so we took our chance and grabbed a picture with him before he was rushed off to the BBC garden in order to film the ever popular show BBC Switch.

After barely turning around, my eyes clapped upon Andrew Moss who plays Rhys Ashworth in the popular teenage soap Hollyoaks, strolling up towards us with a female companion and took a relaxed seat on the grass, lighting a sneaky cigarette. All plans to meet the soap star were abandoned as we didn't want to intrude on his enjoyment of the festival.

The coming and going flow of celebrities eased off for a while, so it was safe to go and buy a nice chilled bottle of water from the top-notch celebrity bar. However, paparazzi surrounded the doorway of the bar, blocking all entrance. Within the swarm of photographers and journalists was dainty lead singer of the band, Florence and the Machine, Florence herself. A photo opportunity was inevitable, so we soon got a member of Florence's band to snap us together. Leaving us with a talking point of how little sleep Florence had had, due to her outstanding set the night before.

We eventually left backstage after walking past Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman chatting to a group of friends, and getting a picture with fellow Radio 1 DJ Reggie Yates, fresh from recording Sunday's request show.

The festival-goers' mood was as untarnished as ever for the entire weekend, helping all on and off-stage talents produce an astounding performance. I do not doubt that next year will be just as fantastic as 2009, if not better.

Sophie James

aged 14

Kings of Wessex School

Cheddar