30,000 people set to take part in three-day South Downs festival

The Big Church Festival is planned to be held on the 6,000-acre Wiston Estate over the August bank holiday weekend.

The festival, formerly known as Big Church Day Out, was first created 15 years ago by musician Tim Jupp, a founding member of the band ‘Delirious?’

Festival organisers have lodged a license application with Horsham District Council for the event being held at Wiston for the first time this summer.

They state in their application that the festival will include live music, dance performances, films and plays being held outdoors and also in tents on the estate.

They say that all plays, music and films “will be of a Christian nature in line with our overall programme.”

Alcohol and food consessions will be available but the organisers say that anyone displaying ‘signs of drunkeness’ or signs of drug-taking or anti-social behaviour will be ejected from the site.

The Big Church Festival has been held in May in previous years but says it is moving to the Wiston Estate in August this year so that it does not clash with other Christian events being held both here and in the United States.

On its website, it states: “Part of our vision for Big Church is that it can increasingly become a place of pilgrimage for many thousands more across the UK.

"Having been on the May Bank Holiday weekend and half term week has been great, but also really restrictive to many who would like to make the trip south each year. It also increasingly conflicts with school and university exams and is therefore just too inaccessible to many.

“We hope that by moving to August, far more will be able to join. It also gives us the space to extend to three full days.” They add: "Also, we hope the nights should be warmer for camping, and it is perhaps easier for some church groups to attend who have less of a programme over the summer months.

"Church groups will even be able to rent a marquee from us to run their own adult programme in the mornings whilst Big Church takes care of your children and young people.”