An amazing effort at the Upton Folk Festival over the May Bank Holiday weekend (4th and 5th May). Well done to the team from Upton Baptist Church who saw...

Over 1000 visitors to café
80 jacket potatoes
1 step ladder lent to repair a leaking camper sky light
45 cakes baked
14 folk band perform in the cafe
Dozens of people prayed for
Full house for Folk Service
25 volunteers
12 Angel Morris dancers (see the videos below)
Numerous phones charged
And Festival Angels knitters decorate the post box!

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!