A TEAM of volunteers from Taunton Deane will be manning the 24-hour-a-day Sanctuary Marquee at this weekend's massive Glastonbury Festival.

As well as offering a safe place for the 120,000-plus festival goers to shelter over the three days and nights, the group will run creative workshops, games and activities, and an opportunity for Christian worship each day, including Mass and a Communion service on the Sunday.

The Sanctuary, run by Churches Together in Somerset, has been a place of rest and retreat at the festival for years at the invitation of organiser Michael Eavis.

As well as working closely with welfare and medical services, the marquee provides free water for all-comers, and has a prayer tree outside. It is sited near the farmhouse, site office and welfare area.

"The concept is of sanctuary as refuge, shelter, a place of safety and retreat," says Doug Lowe, also a Ruishton parish councillor.

"The sanctuary offered is physical, emotional and spiritual, and open to all. We also provide individual support to all those who are weary or upset. We either personally help or enable people to find the right help.

"And at night time there is an opportunity for those who have nowhere to sleep, or who have lost their tent, to use the marquee as a resting place."

This year's festival, the first since 2005, includes its biggest ever line-up with more than 100 bands and performers at a dozen different venues, and sets on the famous Pyramid Stage by The Who, Shirley Bassey, and The Kaiser Chiefs.