A safe space will be available at a church for Parklife festival goers this weekend who may be stuck in Prestwich trying to find a way home or looking to meet their friends.

Heaton Park Methodist Church, located just a few hundred metres from one of the park entrances, will be open from 10am on Saturday to 3am on Sunday to open the "Parklife Sanctuary".

Reverend Jez Hackett said everyone is welcome to come in and charge their phones, wait for taxis, pray or have a hot drink and a breather.

He said: “This is the second year of doing this and we had around 350 people come in last year over the weekend.

Bury Times: Heaton Park Methodist Church Heaton Park Methodist Church (Image: public)

“There are some worries this year however because there are likely to be a lot more people needing a place to wait due to the tram strikes.

“We have also had around 56,000 views on our Facebook post, which is mildly concerning because we definitely don't have space for 56,000 people in the venue.”

The idea for the Parklife Sanctuary came around when a member of the church raised concerns for their children who were attending Parklife that year.

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Worries arose about what happens after leaving the venue and the conversation started around if there was anything the church could do.

Heaton Park Methodist church's safe haven at Parklife

Rev Hackett added: “Last year, it was raining and we just offered people a place to wait, relax and have a hot drink to warm up for as long as they need to, that is what we are here for.”

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Volunteers at the Parklife Sanctuary will be working alongside police as well as security, medical and wellbeing teams.

They have been trained and had a full DBS check.

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