Big Church Day Out

A big deal at the Wiston Estate by editor Kris Thomas

35-40,000 visitors Many events are making a welcome come back this summer and Big Church Day Out (BCDO) is one of them. Ticket holders who were unable to come in 2020 due to Covid-19 have rolled over their tickets and these, combined with new ticket sales, mean that the 2022 event is on track to host 35-40,000 visitors this month. History The idea for a Christian orientated music festival was conceived in 2009 after a meeting between Tim Jupp and the Goring family of Wiston estate. Tim Jupp was a founding member of contemporary English Christian band Delirious? (the question mark is part of the name). Originating from Littlehampton, the band had a successful career between 1992 and 2009 playing in over forty countries and in the UK at venues such as Wembley Stadium, Hyde Park and the o2 Arena, as well as on the main stage at Glastonbury in 1999. Tim’s idea with BCDO was to hold an event to serve the churches in the area but to also welcome non-religious people who were looking to experience a friendly and safe local music festival. Big Church Day Out was the first ever event to be held on the Wiston estate and 13,000 people attended the first one. Tim explained that all did not run smoothly that first year! “It was incredibly hot and we had some serious traffic problems. Food vans didn’t turn up, there wasn’t enough drinking water nor enough team members...The bravest thing we did was to carry on and do the 2nd year.” Since that challenging first year, the team have developed the infrastructure including building tracks to make the estate suitable for other large-scale events such as the popular Steam Rally and the many other events that Wiston now hosts. The festival was extended from one day to three days in 2010 and the number of attendees went up to 25,000. What’s it all about? Primarily it’s a summer music festival - not quite on the scale of Glastonbury but it’s grown year on year. Tim elaborates; “There are 6 music stages and it’s all sorts of music - opera, classical, rock and roll, hip hop - all genres. This year there will be 70 different artists over the weekend, the larger names are American as the Christian music industry in America is huge. There will be around 70 food vans and lots of

children’s activities - fairground rides, and such. Many are free. We have a team of 20 working for the event all year, but more than 3,000 team will be on site during the event who are responsible for looking after up to 40,000 people including approximately 700 caravans and 8,000 cars. It’s exciting and challenging and takes a full month to set up. We thought, go large or go home! Every Christian denomination is welcome as are the non-religious. The name reflects the fact that it’s inclusive - a space for all churches to come together and gather for a weekend”.

About half of the attendees (over 15,000 people) will be camping at Wiston which is at an additional cost to the festival itself. The 2022 event spans 4 days from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th June. Campers can arrive from Thursday and stay through to Sunday morning. The acts take place on the Friday and Saturday. This year the event is on the same weekend as the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Tim; “There will royal fancy dress, jubilee songs and we will be streaming live TV events plus there will be a service for the queen in the Wiston chapel. Jubilee beacons will be lit across the South Downs and one will

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Unit 2 Northbrook Business Park, Northbrook Road, Worthing, BN14 8PQ 01903 823 803 be at Chanctonbury Ring - campers can walk up to the ring from the Wiston estate.” Coming back after Covid “Coming back after the pandemic has been a challenge,” explained Tim, “Big Church has survived due to people’s generosity and because 2020 ticket holders were happy to carry their tickets forward. The event industry is recovering and everything costs more now. When we went on sale with the ‘22 tickets, there were still Covid restrictions in place - it felt risky and it’s a big relief that things are back to normal now. There is always space and it’s all outdoors so

there’s no requirement for masks and anyone who’s been nervous doesn’t need to worry. Rain is a bigger problem!” Costs / Fundraising BCDO 2020 was cancelled just eight weeks before the event was due to take place and many of the costs were unrecoverable. BCDO doesn’t make a profit and in fact will need donations to make up the shortfall from this year’s event. 120 different charities are involved and sponsor the various activities, raising their own profiles at the same time. BCDO itself is an independent charity with an annual budget in excess of £2.5 million. They raise around 90% of this through their main activities - sponsorship, ticket sales etc but have to fundraise for the remaining 10%, around £250,000. An important part of the festival weekend is fundraising on behalf of the BCDO partner charity, Tearfund. Tearfund is a Christian charity that works with churches in more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries. Religion & future plans “Although ‘Church’ is in the name, it’s a brilliant family day out whether you’re religious or not and you don’t have to be part of a church to come along” says Tim, “Many people come in groups, some belong to a church and they bring along their friends, family and neighbours. Groups vary in size from 10 - 200 and they come from all over the UK and mainland Europe, mostly France, Holland and Germany.” I asked Tim if he had plans to launch another Big Church Day Out somewhere else. “No, we don’t have any expansion plans. We did take it up north for a couple of years but the southern one has become so well known and there’s still room to grow at Wiston. Our aim is to support the local area, it brings in business to shops, hotels, pubs. The event helps support the local economy and we also raise a lot of money usually for international development work via Tearfund. 3rd & 4th June 2022 www.bigchurchdayout.com