Town Pastors home from Latitude
By Liz Beaton
This year’s Latitude festival at Southwold saw Town Pastors from across Suffolk working together for the first time at this big event, which attracted a capacity crowd of 35,000.
A marquee was provided by the festival organisers. Positioned right at the heart of the on site ‘Village’ the Town Pastor tent proved very popular as campers returned again and again to have their collectable ‘Town Pastor Latitude mugs’ filled up with tea and coffee. Hot drinks were highly welcome, providing a little relief from the torrential rain and very sticky mud!
As well as offering drinks and various ‘freebies’, Town Pastors patrolled the campsites and arena areas offering ‘keep safe’ advice and helping to look for missing children, pushing mud-stuck cars out of the car parks, and keeping their usual eye out for the vulnerable.
Festival organiser Melvin Benn says in the East Anglian Daily Times (Monday July 18th) “I am happy with Town Pastors who have come to the area and been talking to festival goers. We have provided a great, secure festival.”
One young person was heart to say “You are the best thing at Latitude!!!!!!”
An exhausted team headed home on Sunday evening, damp, weary but very happy! Steve Jay and Liz Beaton would like to thank everyone who sponsored the Town Pastors for this event, prayed for them or helped in any way – the team spirit was fantastic.
One of the lighter aspects of the festival for the Town Pastors was the limerick competition that began via email and facebook, with limericks flying at a rate of knots backwards and forwards with the team on site and the prayer team at home. They were brilliant for keeping up wet and weary spirits. Here is a prime example –
There once was a Town Pastor who
Decided he needed the loo
He went straight away
But now it’s midday
And he’s still at the back of the queue!
Everyone who took part agreed that we would love to go back next year – though maybe we won’t bother to pack our suncream!!!!
Liz | 
