The people praying for festival-goers

Christian volunteers who help festival goers at the Latitude festival say their work is an important part of demonstrating their faith.

The team is made up of 45 festival pastors on site at Henham Park in Suffolk, with hundreds of others supporting the work through prayer.

Peter Livey, the group's co-ordinator, said: "We are here to listen and care; it's completely non-judgemental.

"It's like splashes of grace being able to help somebody."

The pastors started at Latitude in 2011 and their presence has become part of the festival experience, with volunteers in male and female pairs patrolling in their pink hi-vis tops, handing out sweets.

"If anybody needs any assistance, even if that's helping put up a tent, we have some mallets and tent pegs," said Mr Livey.

"If there is any immediate first aid needed, we can cover that as well.

"We also have a night shift, which is a lot more involved with helping people that may have over indulged and things. Love Hearts calm things down."

Peter's wife Liz Livey is a self-supporting minister for the Church of England in Felixstowe.

"I love people, Jesus loves people, so I am here where his people are," she said.

Reflecting on the challenges of needing to assist people who are aggressive or very distressed, she said: "As Town Pastors we are trained for the night time economy, So it's nothing unusual to come across.

"Yes, they may have had too much to drink sometimes, or other things, but that's OK, we just deal with what we deal with in front of us - valuable people cared for by God and cared for by us."

Mrs Livey is also involved in encouraging the prayer teams, with volunteers from different Christian denominations, and also different countries taking part.

"We have just the most amazing people praying all over the world because Suffolk matters to them, Latitude matters to them, and the people here matter to them," she said.

The group have a marquee in the main camping area with a café, children's activities and free hand massages.

Esther Day, a chaplain and pioneer minister with London Road Baptist church in Lowestoft, runs the front-of-house.

She said: "It's just meeting people all day and holding space with people.

"It's that fun, just laughing with them and glittering them and getting to know them and then those really poignant moments with people that just need to talk and share and offload."

The festival has its own welfare team, but their work is enhanced by other organisations on site.

Along with the pastors, Brook offer judgment-free sexual health advice and contraception, and the Samaritans have a drop-in tent with volunteers trained at listening and providing comfort to those in need.

Visit the BBC Action Line pages for support organisations for some of the issues discussed in this story, such as suicide/feelings of despair and mental health concerns.

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