Festival Angels season has arrived. Our first team ran last weekend (26th - 28th April) at the Porthleven Food Festival in Cornwall. 22 Festival Angels had an amazing weekend of supporting festival-goers in a variety of ways including: 100 cups of tea and coffee to security and other staff; 100 conversations about life and faith; 15 large black bin bags of rubbish collected; 50 night-time hot chocolates with marshmallows given out; 50 Jesus Loves Festivals tattoos given; 11 people directly helped and 200 people given information. Well done to the team! 

Our second team is this coming weekend (4th and 5th May) at the Upton-upon-Severn Folk Festival. The Festival Angels will be running a safe space cafe (with community piano) at Upton Baptist Church alongside detached teams who will be out and about across the town centre supporting the 30,000 festival goers. The Festival Angels have also formed a Festival Angels Border Morris Dancing team that will take part in the Sunday lunchtime parade. 

Tunes in the Dunes in Perranporth, Cornwall (17th - 19th May) will see Festival Angels on patrol around the sand dunes, beach, town and festival site. 

Finally for May Challenge Festival in Bingley (25th and 26th May) will see Gareth Gates performing at a free two day festival for the community. Festival Angels are running a safe space and detached teams who will be out and about across the park and town. More people are needed on both Saturday and Sunday - sign up via Bloomerang (if you are not yet registered on Festival Angels Bloomerang do so here)

Festival Angels was mentioned on Premier Christian Radio in an interview with Street Angels founder Paul Blakey. You can listen (you need to create a log in and password) here. 

Congratulations to Rev. Jane Proudfoot, who leads the We Are Church at Creamfields team, who was recently made Archdeacon of Macclesfield - read more here.

Whilst some of the Festival Angels team are almost full we still have spaces at Parklife, Download, Summer Sessions Bedford and Derby, Latitude and Leeds - visit the festivals page to find out more or sign up on Bloomerang. 
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At the evening gigs (Piece Hall, Summer Sessions Bedford and Derby) we won't be giving out Festival Angels t-shirts just hi-vis tabards. This is because an 1 to 2 hours into the shift you will probably be putting a hoodie or sweat-shirt on! If you are doing an evening gig do feel free to bring a Festival Angels t-shirt from previous years or email Paul if you would like one. We do have Festival Angels hoodie, fleece (£25) or sweatshirt (£20) for sale - use this order form. We also have Jesus Loves Festivals tattoos and magnets available at £1 each + £1.30 postage - email Paul.

Festival Angels are at an amazing 60 festivals and events in 2024 as this TikTok shows!

Thank you to each and every Festival Angels volunteer. We are planning to produce an Impact Report this year for all of our festivals so please email [email protected] any quotes, stories or the reason you volunteer for possible inclusion.  

The first Festival Angels team of the 2024 Season were at Porthleven Food Festival over the weekend 26th - 28th April. Alongside food stalls and chef's demonstrations each different stages had music throughout the day. The Festival Angels offered a safe space, along with the popular Jesus Loves Festivals tattoos, and detached teams who were out and about offering support and assistance across Porthleven. 

Happy Easter and almost the start of Festival Angels season. We hope you have an amazing Easter weekend. 

Festival Angels has featured in a wide range of media recently as we gear up recruiting for the 2024 season (and welcome to our 100 new volunteers who have signed up this year!)

The Diocese of Manchester included details of our Parklife Angels in a recent newsletter (see the newsletter here / sign up for Parklife Angels here) and the Diocese of Leeds featured our Leeds Festival Angels team - click here . You can read the article here (please share if you are local to Leeds!)

Festival Angels also featured on Revelation TV's Face to Face programme where Tim Vince interviewed the Paul Blakey the founder of Street Angels:

Our first festival is in Cornwall with a team at Portheven Food Festival from 26th - 28th April - watch the video here. 

We have had more festivals confirmed and some ​where Festival Angels teams are not needed. We are also still waiting to hear back from others and some opportunities are already full. At the moment we are looking for more Angels to sign up to:

Challenge Festival, Bingley - click here
Parklife, Heaton Park, Manchester - click here
Bedford Summer Sessions - click here
Derby Summer Sessions - click here
1940's Weekend Saltaire - email Paul
We Are Church Creamfields - click here for the application form
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Leeds Festival - click here (75% full so if you are planning on coming and haven't signed up yet, get in there to ensure you get a place!)

If you are already signed up to Festival Angels on Bloomerang you can add yourself to the Opportunities (and do check that you are included in the opportunities that you are hoping to be a Festival Angel at!)

If you are volunteering this year do join our Facebook group - an informal place for chat, requests, questions, etc. A recent post asked what festival safety tips would you share with festival goers on a graphic - contribute your ideas on the group. One of our volunteers, Rob, shared this article on the UK's Happiest Music Festivals (number one is Download!) meanwhile Conrad shared that of 3 million toasties eaten each year he eats 1 million of them at Leeds Fest! 

Festival Angels Merch!!! Festival Angels hoodie, fleece (£25) or sweatshirt (£20) - use this order form. We also have Jesus Loves Festivals tattoos and magnets available at £1 each + £1.30 postage - email Paul.

Festival Angels is part of ROC Angels which supports Street Angels, chaplaincy, Club Angels, Ski Angels, outreach in summer holiday resorts as well as Festival teams. ROC Angels is part of Redeeming Our Communities, a community engagement charity, who offer us oversight and governance. You can read the latest ROC Angels newsletter here. 

Picture below - Leeds Festival Angels meet the Ski Angels in Méribel, France!

And finally... a sneak preview of the Leeds Festival Prayer Cafe 2024 mugs! 

Festival Angels fly into Leeds Fest

Festival Angels are planning a return to Leeds Festival for the thirteenth year at Yorkshire's biggest music festival. 

Held at Bramham Park every August Bank Holiday weekend, Leeds Festival attracts around eighty five thousand festival goers, thousands of staff and some of the biggest names in music.  

Festival Angels started life at Leeds Festival in 2011 with the concept expanding to other music festivals over the years. In 2024 Festival Angels teams will be at over fifty festivals and events including Kendal Calling, Download, Parklife and thirty one gigs in Halifax's Piece Hall.

At Leeds Festival the volunteer teams will be running the popular Prayer Cafe, which will serve over fifty thousand cups of tea, coffee and hot chocolate over the six days of the festival. Alongside limited edition Festival Angel mugs, festival goers will be able to purchase Jesus Loves Festivals tattoos that prove highly popular amongst young people. 

Lost Property will be inviting people to pre-register mobiles to make it easier to contact friends of the owner if the phone is lost at the festival. The Lost Property team aims to reunite over 60% of the items handed in or found on the festival site with their owners. 

Detached teams will be out and about across the festival site offering support and assistance to festival-goers, similar to Street Angels who operate in many towns and cities. The detached team will also be manning Assistance, Information and Response hubs on some of the festival campsites. 

Volunteer Festival Angels are asked to sign up for twenty hours of volunteering over the week from Monday 19th August to Monday 26th August including involvement in the setting up and packing down. In return volunteers have access to the festival and a Festival Angels camping area with showers, toilets, kitchen and lounge. 

More information and to sign up visit leedsfestivalangels.org.uk 
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The 2024 festival season is nearly here! We have spent several months talking to festival organisers planning what is looking to be our biggest Festival Angels season yet!

Please bear with us though - we are a small team made up of a 2 very part time staff and some amazing volunteers who between us are trying to keep on top of everything! 

Welcome to the Festival Angels family 64 new volunteers who have signed up in 2024 - do join the general Festival Angels Facebook group where we share info, get to know one another, etc. 

The first Festival Angels of 2024 is Porthleven Food Festival. This will be mainly volunteers from Cornwall and the South West - watch the video below from 2023 - more details and how to sign up is here. 

Into May and the first of several festivals in Upton-upon-Severn, the folk festival (which takes over the town!) will see Festival Angels offering a drop in cafe space and detached teams. In Cornwall a local Festival Angels team will be working around Tunes in the Dunes.

Our first new festival for 2024 is happening over the May Bank Holiday weekend, 24th - 26th, Challenge Festival in Myrtle Park, Bingley. The weekend will see Gareth Gates, Ellie Sax and Peter Andre performing - for more details and sign-up info see here. 

​For many of our festivals we are using Bloomerang (the website formerly known as InitLive). On this app you sign up to Festival Angels as the organisation Click here for the Festival Angels organisation page - if you have an account it will ask you for your password, if you are new it will ask you to sign up. 

If you are having trouble signing in click here for the main Bloomerang log-in page. 

It is then down to you to add yourself to Opportunities and shifts (though shifts will become live nearer the festival dates - we will let you know). If you have any issues please email [email protected] 

Parklife is the next Festival Angels team in Heaton Park, Manchester on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June. For more details and to sign up click here.  ​Festival Angels will be hosting dedicated 'Safe Spaces' across the festival site. The team will run 10am - 11pm on Saturday and 11am - 11pm on Sunday with volunteers working at least one day.

June sees the start of 30 gigs at Piece Hall in Halifax where Festival Angels will be on patrol around the venue (another new one for Festival Angels!) We are still waiting for final confirmation on our role / teams at Download (13th - 17th June in Castle Donington). We are also waiting on confirmation for four different locations of Forestry Commission gigs and five locations of Summer Sessions series of gigs which are over June, July and August - thanks to all who have expressed an interest in volunteering at these we will let you know as soon as we know!

Glastonbury will see the local to Somerset team running The Church @ Glastonbury. They will offer a Christian presence with creative space, wedding blessings, daily gatherings and more - join the Facebook group for more details. 

At the end of June and into July is Bedford Summer Sessions where Festival Angels will be running a Safe Hub which will include Lost Property along with detached teams who will patrol across the festival site offering support and assistance. We are working with Bedford Street Angels to organise this team - for more details and to sign up click here.

In July we are still waiting for confirmation on a team at Latitude (24th - 29th July in Suffolk) and a local team at Yarty Party in Devon. 

The beginning of August is one of the Festival Angels favourites, Kendal Calling. This team is already almost at capacity! Festival Angels will be running a safe hub and detached teams. 

The end of August (21st - 26th) sees our biggest Festival Angels team at Leeds Festival where we will be running the Prayer Cafe, Lost Property, detached and AIR Hubs. You can sign up for Leeds Festival via Opportunities within Bloomerang (if you are a new volunteer you need to sign up to Festival Angels on Bloomerang first - once we have taken references you will be able to sign up to the opportunities).

The same weekend is Creamfields where We Are Church at Creamfields do an amazing work with a safe place marquee, water and jammy dodgers - find out more on Facebook. Festival Angels are also looking at running Lost Property at Creamfields - more details (if this happens) soon. 

And finally (well maybe) September could be our final new Festival Angels with Shipley Festival which attracts 80,000 people! More details soon. 

Please use this image to share about Festival Angels on your own, church, community social media sites...

Who is spring cleaning? Let's see your vintage Festival Angels mugs / T shirts / tote bags...who has got a sneaky Hi Viz??? Let's get all these back in circulation in 2024. If you want to donate them back into the system this year if your volunteer days are over please let Amanda know - we can either pick them up or you can post back to us! 

​Thank you again to our amazing Festival Angels family who are serving at an incredible number of festivals and gigs in 2024! See you in a field soon! #JesusLovesFestivals