The sun shone very brightly in Northamptonshire over the bank holiday weekend (23-26 August) where faith, arts and activism came together at this year's Greenbelt festival.

The United Reformed Church (URC) Greenbelt team welcomed thousands of visitors to its tent, decorated by hundreds of colourful postcards, were created by URCs from across the UK which shared the wit and wisdom of URC members..

With a packed programme of events on the theme ‘Wit and wisdom’, there was much on offer for people young and old, of all faiths and none to enjoy.

Chris Andrews, Graphic Designer for Reform magazine, said: “There was an awful lot to see at Greenbelt and the URC tent was again located in a really good place. There's always a good number of people in the URC tent with lots of conversations going on.”

On Twitter, @AFC_Christians (Action for Children’s Christian network) commented: “[The URC] set up a very engaging tent at Greenbelt.”

Visitors to the tent could create their own postcards, take part in a roaming liturgy and other craft activities, engage in conversations, participate in a round-table discussions ‘The Laugh Temptation’, hosted by Steve Tomkins, Editor of Reform magazine, and cake and debate sessions hosted by URC Youth.

Thousands of people attended the festival held at Boughton House, Kettering, which has been running since 1974. The URC has enjoyed a successful associate partnership with it for four years, and at last November's Mission Council, the Church agreed to extend the partnership.

The Revd Anne Sardeson, Convenor of the URC Greenbelt planning committee, said: “Our activities went really well. We had lots of conversations and some fantastic responses to the postcards from churches which we used to engage with people." 

A gallery of images can be viewed here.

_{Published: 28 August 2019}