FESTIVAL PASTORS 7TH YEAR AT LATITUDE
Town Pastors did a quick change and turned pink to become Festival Pastors, whilst other volunteers donned the special black and blue festival pastor aprons to serve in the café.
This year’s Latitude Festival (July 14-16) attracted a record 40,000 people from all parts of the UK, Europe and further afield to enjoy music from bands such as Mumford & Sons as well as ballet, comedy and the iconic pink sheep.
The 65-strong on-site festival pastors team also operated the café which, as well as tea and coffee, offered the chance to engage with the two resident artists in a live art project. Customers also talked to team members about their concerns and also posted prayer requests on a prayer board.
Festival Pastors have been serving at Latitude since 2011 and, with their distinctive pink high vis jackets, can be seen patrolling the vast campsite in pairs.
This year, churches of all denominations from across East Anglia, along with other Christian organisations, were invited to pray for the event and send in some messages which were displayed on the bunting in the marquee. An important ministry is provided in the Festival Pastors prayer tent where volunteers intercede for all aspects of Latitude, supported by the home prayer team maintaining regular contact throughout the Festival.
Despite having record attendance this year, the event appeared to go smoothly with excellent and positive relationships with the organisers and sterling work by the volunteers from across the Town Pastor family, many of whom gave up holidays to be there.
On Saturday we were joined by Journalist Keith Morris and his wife Nicky. They “tagged along” with one of the Festival Pastor patrols, as did a couple from the media company Higham who were taking footage for our new TP films. We also welcomed Brian and Tracey Heasley who joined us to pray and engage with festival goers. Brian and Tracey pioneered the remarkable work of 24-7 Prayer in Ibiza, and Brian is the International Prayer Director of 24-7 Prayer. Bishop Mike Harrison joined us on the Sunday.
A big thank-you to all the volunteers working at Latitude this year, as well as the organising committee for 2017, chaired by Major Barry Willson (FP event General Manager) included Liz Livey and Maggie Heath on Prayer, Jan Bedford (Latitude Coordinator), Glynn Williams, Neil Winton, Barbara Willingham, Shirley Austin, Angela Law and Paul Laughlin.
If you are a Town Pastor volunteer and would like to work as part of the Festival Pastor team at Latitude 2018, please email