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READING STREET PASTORS - Sally Leonard, co-ordinator:

“We have two tents in the Orange and Brown campsites, open right the way through to Monday morning. We’re basically a chill-out space with sofas, tables, chairs and the best hot chocolate on-site. We’re there to listen to people and be there as a friendly face. If people become overwhelmed then they can just come and chill out with us.

“We invite people to come any time. We’re there for everybody, even the staff. The thing about festivals is that there often isn’t anywhere to just sit down and be away from everything. It’s really good for young people to just be able to come and do that.

“We’ve been at Reading since 2012 and we always get an amazing reaction. The public and parents always say, ‘Thank goodness that you are there – we feel so much safer’. We’re a caring, listening and helping service. Not only are we in the tent, but we’re also patrolling the campsites from Thursday. We’re helping people to put up tents and signposting them to the right places, and it’s very much just about caring for everybody.

“It can be very overwhelming for people at festivals. Particularly since COVID, we’ve seen a lot of anxious young people. In 2021 we had one person who’d come on the Wednesday and had a panic attack so we had to call her parents to pick her up.

“It’s a fantastic festival and Festival Republic are really good at keeping young people safe. I’m part of the safeguarding group who meet every day to discuss what’s gone in the past 24 hours. People will make bad decisions and there be bad outcomes, but Festival Republic work hard to try and keep everyone safe. That’s why we’re all there.”

Visit here for more information on Reading Street Pastors.

FESTIVAL ANGELS – LEEDS - Paul Blakey – founder: 

“We started at Leeds in 2011, when there was a 79-year-old lady who lived in the village next to Bramham Park who wanted to do something. She got 12 of her friends together, Melvin Benn agreed to have a marquee, it snowballed from there and now we have 205 volunteers.

“One of the most popular things we do is sell mugs for £7, that comes with unlimited tea, coffee, hot chocolate, Pot Noodles. We offer a place for young people who don’t need welfare or first aid, but just need that safe place at a festival.

“Also run a lost property tent, returning thousands of items to festival-goers each year. Fans can pre-register their phones, get a sticker, and if people lose their phones and it ends up in the lost property tent then we can reunite the phone and its owner much quicker.”

“We sell 5,000 mugs and stickers for phones, and we often tend to be the first place that people come to. Our cafe really quickly becomes a community, so people network between themselves and make friends there. Last year a girl traveled all the way from the coast of Scotland, catching five buses just to see Arctic Monkeys – she found her way into our cafe and now she’s a volunteer.”

“We also have detached teams just wondering around the site, keeping an eye on things, helping people put up their tents, carry their luggage, and working with welfare and medical on some of the more serious things that might happen.

“We’re there from people arriving to people leaving. When things go wrong, we’re one of the many groups of people there to pick up the pieces and help. We’re a friendly face and very visible, so people trust us.”

“We always have a good vibe, with music playing and places to sit if you need to escape Leeds’ legendary sunshine. We’ve got colouring in to illustrate inspirational quotes and bible verses. The amount of young people who sit there colouring in when there’s so much music to see is amazing. It’s a creative and thoughtful place for people to relax and connect. People have just got their A Level and GCSE results and might want to meet people and talk about that.

“There’s always a great vibe, and then there’s the joyful atmosphere when people are reunited with their phones and wallets!”

​Visit here for more information on Leeds Festival Angels.

Forty six Festival Angels were in the fields for our fourth year at Kendal Calling. Set in scenic Lowther Deer Park the team were on hand running a Safe Hub in the campsites and detached patrols across the whole site. Festival Angels were part of the welfare offer to festival-goers.

Over the six days we engaged and supported festival-goers in a variety of ways including: helping people find space and set up camp; handing out essential items such as sanitary products and plasters; giving out Jesus Loves Festivals tattoos; filling pot noodles so people could have food; supporting welfare and security with a wide range of incidents; making time for people to ensure that they had a safe and enjoyable Kendal Calling experience. 

Several festival-goers said to us that they would be safe at Kendal Calling because the Festival Angels were on site and security thanked us for sorting out several issues before they became a major problem. 

A Festival Angels team selfie with musician Example was shared on his social media with over half a million followers on his Instagram alone. 

Thanks to the amazing team who went and beyond time and again. 

Last weekend (21st - 23rd July) Kilmington Baptist Church and The Life Community Axminster teamed up to provide 'Festival Angels' for the Yarty Party.

They report "it was great to meet and help lots of people having a great time, have some meaningful conversations, and cover the event in prayer."
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"A huge well done to the organisers of the @Yarty Party Festival for putting on such a great weekend, and battling through the rain on Saturday. And thanks to our fantastic team of angels!"

Festival Angels have had a busy June with teams at Download in Castle Donington, Parklife in Manchester and promoting the amazing work of The Church at Glastonbury. Thanks to all who have volunteered at these events - going above and beyond in some extreme weather (from temperatures in the 30's to torrential rain, thunder and lightning!) We have had some great feedback from festival organisers around the professionalism, engagement and fun that our volunteers bring to a festival.

Read more about Download here (top picture)
Read more about Parklife here (middle picture)
Check out The Church at Glastonbury Facebook Group (bottom picture)

July sees a team at Kendal Calling in the Lake District. A team of nearly 50 volunteers will be out and about in the fields offering a safe space and detached teams. This is our fourth year at Kendal Calling. 

A new Festival Angels team will be Yarty Party in Axminster, Devon this coming weekend (21st and 22nd July). The team of 8 from the Baptist Church Kilmington and The Life Community in Axminster will be out on Friday and Saturday from 6pm until late. 

Paul chatted to Sarah from ROC (the charity Festival Angels is part of) about the work at Download and Parklife - click here to watch the reel. You can watch several videos of Festival Angels in action, the dedication given to the placing of the Jesus Loves Festivals tattoos, the Parklife Angels rain storm party tent and some volunteer feedback on our TikTok channel - click here. 

Emma - [email protected] - was one of the volunteers at Parklife Festival Angels and has sent the below message - if anyone can help on 13th August please let Emma know and then we can get a team together:

I run an initiative called Our House Your House - which is all about promoting good mental health and well-being through House Music.

www.ourhouseyourhouse.org
https://linktr.ee/ourhouseyourhouse

I was wondering if Festival Angels could help with something I am organising? On the 13th August from 11am at Joshua Brooks, Manchester ​(106 Princess St, Manchester M1 6NG) we are running the Guinness World Record Attempt for the most amount of DJs going B2B!

It is to raise money for Mind, and so we have hosting several wellbeing stands during the day.

I wondered if Festival Angels could be there to run a stand and talk to people about what they do. We have others - meditation, hypnotherapy, musician wellbeing stands etc, and I thought it would be good if we could have a Christian stand there in the mix. The event is from 11am at Joshua Brooks in Manchester. If you can help please Emma know!

The 2023 Festival Angels season comes to an end in August with our biggest weekend! Over 200 Festival Angels will be at Leeds Festival; We Are The Church @ Creamfields in Cheshire; Festival Angels at the Upton-upon-Severn Sunshine Festival; Street Pastors are at Reading Festival. 

We are likely to be looking for more volunteers to staff a third AIR Hub at Leeds - if this is you please register at leedsfestivalangels.org.uk/volunteer (sign up to Festival Angels as an Organisation and we will add you to Leeds as an Opportunity) or email us if you are already registered on the InitLive system! 

To register your interest for We Are The Church @ Creamfields please email the Creamfields team .

If you are near Upton-upon-Severn then the Festival Angels team is always looking for new volunteers - email Upton Baptist Church for more details. 

Twenty five Parklife Festival Angels were on running four safe spaces over the weekend of Parklife in Heaton Park Manchester. 

The team were on hand to ensure festival goers had a safe and fun time and were offering sun tan lotion, plasters, drink spiking kits, lollipops and ponchos and shelter when torrential rain and thunder storms interrupted the sun on Sunday afternoon! The team even repaired several pairs of shoes! 

The Parklife Festival manager commented, "I was so impressed with the team, they are definitely a credit to the organisation"

Festival Angels were at Download in Castle Donington for the first time running two of the new AIR Hubs. Download is an annual festival with heavy metal and rock and this year celebrated 20 years with record crowds of 95,000. 

​AIR (Assistance, Information, Response) Hubs were based on the camp sites with Festival Angels running the two on Green / Eco camping. 

Over the six days of the Festival, where temperatures were around 30c, thirty-six volunteers were on hand to: help people find space to camp; put up tents; seek assistance from other agencies working across the festival site; offer a space of shade and to sit down; be a friendly and welcoming space on the camp site with water, plasters, wet wipes, sanitary products and sun tan lotion.

Around 1000 Jesus Loves Festivals and several thousand #LookOutForEachOther tattoos were given away over the week. The Jesus Loves Festivals ones proved very popular with some requesting prayer or having in depth conversations around Jesus and faith. 

Festival Angels also connected with the Chaplaincy team working in the Main Arena who were on hand to offer a listening ear and friendly space both in the tent and through detached teams across the site. The Chaplains ran a Communion Service for the first time on the Sunday morning.

We are now three festivals in to the 2023 season! We have had Festival Angels teams at:

Porthleven Food Festival
Upton-upon-Severn Folk Festival
Tunes in the Dunes

Click each one to read the reports and see more pictures... Thanks to all who have served at each of these festivals. 

Our next Festival Angels teams will be at Download and Parklife.

At Download (7th - 12th June) we are staffing at least two of the Information hubs - we are currently on 40 volunteers and are looking for 50 to staff two of the hubs or 75 to staff three! More information and sign-up via festivalangels.org.uk/download

At Parklife (10th and 11th June) we are running safe place cabins. Saturday is now full but we still have a few spaces for the Sunday. More details and sign-up at festivalangels.org.uk/parklife 

For those signed up to these festivals we will be sending out full details after the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. 

Did you know that Festival Angels was the vision of a 79 year old lady Kate Dickinson!  Sadly Kate passed away recently. Her daughter in law Jeanne, who was a Leeds Festival Angel last year, writes:

"At the age of 79 Kate got permission to set up a “Prayer Tent” at Leeds Festival, a personal initiative which then developed into Festival Angels and now touches the lives of thousands.

We’ve all loved and appreciated her and will miss you so much Kate Dickinson, our amazing “Festival Angel” "

​Kate has left a legacy that is continuing to grow and develop at festivals across the UK and beyond. Thank you Kate and love and prayers for her family at this time.

21st - 25th June is one of the most famous festivals of all - Glastonbury! We have made links with The Church @ Glastonbury Festival who are based opposite the Pyramid Stage offering: Safe Space and Shelter, Prayer, Creativity and Sanctuary. Please pray for this team of volunteers. 

The Upton-upon-Severn Festival Angels were inspired by the various Morris Dancing groups to look at setting up a Festival Angels Border Morris group to perform at the 2024 Upton Folk Festival - here is a TikTok of them learning the moves!

Leeds Festival Angels is currently full! People signing-up are to be added to a Waiting List - it is worth joining as we do tend to have several drop-out's nearer the festival and there is something in the pipeline which if it comes off will increase our presence on the site and will create more places! leedsfestivalangels.org.uk/volunteer

Creamfields North is happening the same weekend (August Bank Holiday) where the We Are Church at Creamfields team will be offering pastoral help and support to Festival goers. More information is on the Facebook page or access the sign-up form here. 

For Festival Angel volunteers we have a Facebook group where you can ask questions, share ideas and news, etc - join here. Thank you to all who are part of the amazing Festival Angels family! 

Pirans Angels were out and about around Tunes In The Dunes festival which takes place each year on the beach in ​Perranporth.