The Big Church Day Out

The Family at The Big Church Day Out

A few weeks ago, on the last weekend in May, we went to the Big Church Day Out with a big group of people from church, and it was one of my favorite events here in England so far.  The Big Church Day Out is a two day event held on the beautiful grounds surrounding Wiston House in West Sussex.

Wiston House

The Big Church Day Out was just a short drive from Brighton, but it was out in the lovely countryside on a spur of the South Downs.  The main event at the BCDO were the artists on the main stage.  This year's artists were The David Crowder Band, Tobymac, Israel Houghton, Newsboys, Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin.  The event also included a smaller stage with artists throughout the day, a tea tent, rides, bouncy castles, pony rides, and a food avenue.

Right after church on Sunday, we packed a picnic lunch, loaded up the car and headed to the BCDO.  Everyone from One Church gathered together in an area and settled in for the day.  Despite having lovely weather all week, things turned cold and windy on Sunday.  As you can see from the pictures, we were all pretty bundled up.  It also threatened to rain all day, but luckily it held off.

Our One Church View of the Stage

Trying to Keep Warm

The David Crowder Band (yea Texans!) opened up the show, and they were amazing to see live.  One of our good friends who organized the day out for One Church, Mike, knew how excited we were to see the David Crowder Band, so he arranged for us to get to meet the band after their set.  It was amazing!  After their last song, we went backstage and waited for them as they packed up all their equipment (surprisingly, they didn't have people that did that for them). 

Rockin' Out to the David Crowder Band

Sloane "Helping" with the Equipment

Unfortunately, David Crowder had to rush off right when he got off stage to meet his wife at the train station, but we did get to meet the rest of the band.  They were all really nice, and we talked about England, Texas and Baylor.  After a few pictures, we stopped bugging them and let them enjoy the rest of their day.

David Crowder Escaping the Cameron Paparazzi

Us with the Band (Minus David Crowder)

We also enjoyed the rest of our day.  The girls rode some rides, we all wandered around the grounds and of course we checked out all the food stands.  I must say the highlights were the Higgidy Pies (owned by our church friend Mark), the fresh donuts (except the second one - that put me over the edge) and the chips stand.

The Girls Getting On the Ferris Wheel

Me, the Sheep and Michael

Mark Cooking Up Higgidy Pies

Higgidy Pies for Dinner

The BCDO lasted all day, but we didn't.  We almost made it to the end, but we left a little early especially so we could get Joslin home.  She was freezing, and she had to get up very early to head back to America the next morning.

The View Leaving the Parking Lot

I can't wait to go back to the Big Church Day Out again next year.  If anyone wants to come join us, May is a lovely time to visit England (I am sure the weather will be better).  Trust me, you would love it.  It is sort of like the Austin City Limits Festival without the heat!