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FOR many youngsters, Reading Festival will be the first time they will be away from home on their own.
And it can be an overwhelming experience for all the senses.
As well as three days of great music, there is a wealth of activities to do including comedy and films, opportunities to shop, new food stalls to try, and of course, alcohol.
There are times when the wealth of activities can be too much and for that a helping hand is needed.
A number of groups are on hand to help out including the Salvation Army and the Street Pastors.
Both are festival regulars, and have their own tents.
The Street Pastors, a regular fixture in Reading town centre on Friday and Saturday nights, will be offering undjudgmental support and care to people who need a bit of a helping hand.
Co-ordinator Sally Leonard said the group has two tents on the campsites, and will be patrolling in the afternoon and evening every day from Thursday through to Monday morning.
Trained street pastors take part in the patrols, and Christians from Reading churches are volunteering in their tents.
“We help get people to the right place, be it their tent, to the medical or welfare tent or to the Street Pastors tent,” she says.
“In the tents there are sofas, games and a big game of Connect 4 outside. There’s also hot chocolate, tea, coffee and snacks.
“People can come and chat – it’s just a place to chill out.”
The group is part of the Transform Reading collective of churches who work together across the town. This means they are able to work seamlessly with the Salvation Army – indeed, in the early years of the Street Pastors at Reading Festival, they worked from the Army’s tent.
Sally says their first year on site was 2012, and the work expanded after she visited another festival to see how Street Pastors worked there. She took her plans to Festival Republic who gave them their backing, and the work expanded in 2014.
“We have a really good relationship with Festival Republic. They are doing their absolute best to keep people safe – their safeguarding team are really good,” Sally says.
And given that this is the 10th year that Street Pastors are on site, Sally and her team must enjoy the experience.
“We love it, I absolutely love it,” she says.
“Young pepople are so open to having chats about faith and stuff, people do ask us to pray for them. It’s really amazing.
“It’s hard work, but great fun.”
The Salvation Army has been part of the festival for more than 50 years, with its tent open 24 hours a day for pastoral care, affordable refreshments, and a safe space.
The team of volunteers have been on site since Tuesday, and will stay there until Monday, with 40 people helping out.
Their base is on Scott Street, named after Stuart Scott, who first took the Army to the music event.
His daughter, Hayley, took part last year and said: “My dad had a vision of being a presence at the festival and providing help and refreshments to anyone who needs it.
“We had tables and chairs set up in the marquee. Festivals can be overwhelming so we are somewhere calm where people can come and relax. It was a peace haven.
“Over the years it’s grown, and we’ve adapted. It used to be we’d offer soup and a roll, now we have hot drinks, water, sweet treats. We keep the prices affordable.
“Any profit made goes back to the Reading Central Corps and into the community to make up food and Christmas parcels.
“If someone has no money, we can give them food and a drink. We have spare tents, towels and blankets.”
Churches are also active off-site as well.
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Sue Cantwell, the secretary of Caversham Baptist, says: “We aim to provide a cafe-style chill-out area with tea, coffee, cold drinks, biscuits, Wi-Fi, and a phone charging station. There’s also a fruit stall.
“We also provide somewhere to write and leave prayer requests and offer prayer and pastoral care if needed.”
It’s open from 9.30am to 1pm on Friday and Saturday, while on Sunday the church will hold a cafe style worship service in addition to the hospitality.
Carey Baptist Church says its offering is a chance to show some Christian love to those coming to Reading, and it is teaming up with other local churches to offer three things.
It has prepared maps of the town and the festival to give to people as they arrive at the station.
In Caversham Road, they have a refreshment stall, where they hand out thousands of free drinks to thirsty people over the weekend.
It also has members by the riverside where they are on hand to have conservations with people about life, the universe and everything.
Richard Baxter, Carey’s pastor for outreach, says that it is a big operation – 15,000 maps have been prepared, and in 2019, they handed out “thousands and thousands” of drinks.
“I think people are really impressed with the refreshments stand,” he says. “Quite understandably, a lot of businesses look at the festival to make a bit of extra money, but people are pleased we are giving out maps and drinks for free.”
The riverside conversations is something that the church does because of their faith.
“We’ve been shown so much love, we want to share that love with other people,” he says. “People can be quite open. Some walk past, and that’s fine. Others will chat to us for a long time and have really intestering conversations.
“We will chat with people who don’t want a faith, and chat with some who have never heard the good news about Jesus. They listen, talk, ask questions.”
He adds: “I do enjoy it, but there’s a lot of preparation work to be done. It’s a big operation.
“We think it’s worth doing to be a blessing, and to tell people about Jesus.”
Carey and fellow churches will hand the maps out from Wednesday, the refreshment stand will be open from Thursday to Monday, and they will be by the river from Thursday to Sunday.
