Parklife Festival Angels are once again making an appearance at the Heaton Park Festival which this year celebrates its fifteenth anniversary. Parklife, which runs Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th June, is a mix of dance, electronic, hip-hop, and pop music, attracting over 100,000 attendees across the two days. Parklife Festival Angels are needed to run three safe spaces across the festival site on both Saturday and Sunday. Rev. Sarah Fletcher, rector at St Thomas with St Mark, Lower Crumpsall and Trinity United, Cheetham, says "I have joined the Parklife Festival Angels team for the last two years and had an amazing experience. It is a great opportunity to serve one of Manchester's largest music festivals and offer safe spaces to the tens of thousands of young people who attend." In 2024 Parklife Festival Angels gave away thousands of plasters, wet wipes, sanitary products, tissues, foil blankets, lollipops and sweets to festival-goers who needed a supporting hand. The team also found that duct tape came in handy to repair several pairs of broken shoes. Debra Green OBE, the founder CEO of Redeeming Our Communities who organise Festival Angels, comments, "Parklife is a significant event for thousands of young people in our city and beyond. The Parklife Festival Angels will be on hand, alongside welfare, security, first aid and others, to ensure that should someone need support they can easily find it." In addition to support inside the festival, neighbouring Heaton Park Methodist Church offers Parklife Sanctuary for those arriving and leaving the Parklife site. This safe space, open Saturday and Sunday 10am - 3am, offers tea, coffee and cake alongside a place to find friends, wait for parents or a taxi, recover from having consumed too much of something, charge phones or for a listening ear. Sign-up and more information on Parklife Angels is available at festivalangels.org.uk/parklife Festival Angels worked at over 60 festivals and events in 2024 investing at least 16,000 volunteer hours into events such as Download, Kendal Calling, Creamfields and Leeds Festival.  The CEO of ROC Angels, Paul Blakey, spoke about the work of Festival Angels at a ChurchWorks reception in the Houses of Parliament. The host MP for Shipley, Anna Dixon, is the sister of one of our regular Leeds Festival Angels. The day was looking at how the church and government can work better together with Paul speaking about Festival Angels alongside Street Angels and a Halifax initiative Chilli Tuesday. Festival Angels were involved in stewarding a community event, 'This Landscape Is Ours' in Halifax in February. This was organised by IOU Theatre (one of the team was a Festival Angel in 2024) and part of CultureDale events. The team helped steward 10 guided walks around Halifax town centre with projections, sound and light shows.
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Gambling Harms Festivals can involve alcohol and drug use, which can increase the likelihood of gambling. People under the influence may make impulsive decisions, including gambling, which can lead to harmful consequences such as poor mental health, financial issues and relationship struggles. Ygam’s free training for Community & Faith Leaders will equip you with the knowledge surrounding gambling harms in relation to young people. Although the legal age for gambling is 18 in the UK, the recent Gambling Commission report found 27% of 11-17 year olds had gambled in the past 12 months. Research shows that children exposed to gambling at a young age are found to be four times more likely to go on to experience gambling harms themselves. Our two hour City & Guilds online training covers topics such as the blurred lines between gaming and gambling; the role religion and culture can play in relation to gambling; supporting young people through effective conversations and signposting young people to support services. Following the training you’ll also get access to a range of optional Alumni sessions on topics like Cryptocurrency, Streaming, LGBTQ+, and Lived Experience of Gambling. You will also have access to a range of resources that can be used in your volunteering, and with young people you may encounter in your working or everyday lives. We also run information sessions for parents and carers which is 75 minutes in duration (also free). To find out more about our Community and Faith Leader training dates follow this link. To find out more about our Parent and Carer training dates please click here. At the end of another year ROC Angels wants to say THANK YOU to all who are part of the ROC Angels family - you are amazing! Volunteers, supporters, partners, coordinators, those who encourage and pray - you are all part of the ROC Angels story and impact. 2024 was an incredible year with new Festival Angels and Street Angels. Our amazing teams continue to make the difference in local communities through loving the person in front of them. ROC Angels hopes you have an amazing Christmas. We look forward to continued partnership towards safer and kinder communities in 2025. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (thanks to Jimmy Cricket for use of 'Selfie with an Elfie' - watch the full version here) To play at full screen press play then click the two arrows on the bottom right corner.
 We have a few Leeds Festival Angels mugs available to purchase at £10 each (including postage) - if interested email Paul to order. The mugs are as seen on ITV's Calendar - watch the video here! The Latitude Festival Angels have put together a 2025 calendar featuring the team alongside the Tractor Bus. We will be making an order in October for printed calendars (and they will make a quirky and unique Christmas present!) - to order and to see the designs click here.
We are working on strengthening Festival Angels to accommodate the incredible growth. Part of this is looking for a corporate sponsor for Festival Angels (if anyone has any links please do get in touch). We will be putting the 2025 season together over the next few weeks as we talk to and meet with Festival organisers. In preparation for 2025 why not check your Bloomerang profile - are all the fields filled in? Have you uploaded a photo? Then in January when we start to release details of 2025 Festival teams it is a more straightforward process. Sign into Bloomerang here. As Festival Angels / Festival Teams we get a glimpse into the incredible amount of work that goes into each festival and event. Months of planning and logistics by dedicated staff teams that are on shift for long hours each and every day. We know a lot of them as friends and value the partnership we have with them. Here is some of the on the ground Piece Hall Halifax team - we have worked with them for 35 gigs and they go above and beyond to deliver a fantastic experience for those attending. Thank you to all festival staff everywhere. 
Tonight (Saturday 21st September) the Accrington Street Angels are doing a Festival Angels role as Jess Glynne performs locally as the finale to a day long music festival.
Thanks to Jonathan and Conrad from Leeds Festival Angels who have worked hard along with the onsite team to reunite lost property with its owners. Jonathan is on first name terms with the staff in his local post office! Do follow @FestivalAngels on Facebook and TikTok and @FestivalAngels1 on Instagram. Thank you again - and see you in 2025! |
