​Every year the UK hosts just short of a thousand festivals. Of these five hundred are music festivals. The UK festival sector is a global leader, contributing £1.75 billion to the UK economy annually and supporting eight five thousand jobs. Annual attendance at festivals is around six and a half million people.

In short, the UK festival scene is significant!

Over the last fourteen years a growing number of Christian organisations have realised the potential for working alongside festival organisers to support these events, the staff and festival goers.

Leading the way is Festival Angels!

Since 2011 we have pioneered and gone above and beyond in our offer to festivals. We have teams, or have supported teams, to attend some of the UKs biggest festivals including Leeds, Parklife, Kendal Calling, Download, Creamfields and Latitude.

Festival Angels are there to support the welfare of the festival goers and staff. Through practical ways such as safe hubs, lost property, detached teams (who are out and about across the festival site) and at Leeds a prayer cafe, we demonstrate, and show through banners, Gospels and tattoos, that Jesus Loves Festivals.

Festival Angels has become a family of change makers who support one another, those attending and those working. Festival Angels offer a network of support and connection for groups such as Download Chaplains, Latitude Festival Pastors and the Methodist Church who are also working within the festival scene.

Paul Blakey MBE, who heads up many of the Festival Angels teams, comments, "With the recent talk and research around a 'Quiet Revival' we have seen this evidenced at festivals over the last few years.

"Young people queuing up for tattoos, reading and taking the Jesus Loves Festivals Gospels, asking serious questions and of course having a selfie with Jesus is commonplace.

"Each year we connect with tens of thousands of people, many of them Gen Z. People often come to say thank you for the help we have given them or friends in past years or bring back the Festival Angels mug for a cuppa.

Festival Angels are keen to support local church communities to set up teams around smaller festivals and events. Upton-upon-Severn Baptist Church and churches in Porthleven have Festival Angels teams each year which help the church connect and integrate with wider community events.

With a handful of teams to run in 2025, including Leeds Festival, Darley Park Weekender, We Are Church at Creamfields and Street Pastors at Reading Festival, plans are beginning for future development.

A one-off opportunity in 2027 will be the Grande Depart of one of the world's biggest sporting events. The Tour de France will be racing around Scotland, Wales and England in a three day spectacle with Festival Angels / ROC Angels joining forces with Sports Chaplaincy to speak to the organisers about how we can encourage the church and community to better engage along the routes.

Festival Angels is a simple model with an aim of loving the person in front of you through practical help such as sun lotion, plasters and sanitary products. The team's proactive approach is demonstrating to festival goers and staff that Jesus really does love festivals and festival-goers. 

To find out more festivalangels.org.uk or @festivalangels on Facebook and TikTok and @festivalangels1 on Instagram. ​

Massive congratulations to Jo and Bryn who became engaged under the Kendal Calling globe! They met through Festival Angels at Leeds a few years ago!

The engagement featured in an article on Kendal Calling in Cumbria Crack - read the article here (copied below):

Bryn Wilson, 54, and Jo Lynch, 54, from Leeds and York, got engaged on Thursday beneath Kendal’s Lost Eden Earth while working as part of the Festival Angels team.

Bryn used a Haribo ring to propose and the pair plan to get a real ring later.

Jo said while she normally likes to stay in the know of everything going on that Bryn succeeded in surprising her with the proposal.

She said: “I thought he’s never going to catch me out with it, but he really did!

“He got down on one knee with a Haribo ring, I think we’ve gone through a whole bag over the last four days!”

The pair have volunteered for the organisation for around nine years covering Leeds fest but only properly crossed paths and started to speak to one another around three years ago.

They really liked each other, but with various things going on in their lives, it wasn’t until the following year that they started to date.

Bryn said: “It’s been an absolutely brilliant weekend because she said yes.”

The pair have volunteered at Kendal Calling for the past two years and it means a lot to them, as it marks some of their first proper time spent together as a couple.

Bryn said he planned in advance to propose at the festival as it has a friendly, calm and open atmosphere.

Bryn said he was excited to propose to Jo and added: “I just want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

Some of the Festival Angel team also threw the couple a little surprise celebration on their engagement with cake and prosecco handed out in their tent.

The pair plan to return to Kendal Calling to volunteer again next year.

46 Festival Angels ran 4 Safe / Info Hubs at Download Festival. The team covered from Wednesday 8am until Monday at 1pm. Hundreds of people received help, support and information from the team including around 100 conversations or support around mental health. Festival Angels joined with the Download Chaplains for a Sunday morning communion service. The team were given ducks (one of the symbols of Download) and friendship bracelets in thanks for the help they gave.  

Parklife Angels spent two days helping and supporting those at Manchester's Parklife Festival through running three Safe Hubs. The team helped and supported hundreds of people including using gaffa tape to make shoes wearable again!