Pastor, 41, named and pictured after being crushed by falling sign at Christian festival
Robert Guanco, 41, was killed at the UK's largest Christian music festival, which the Archbishop of Canterbury Dame Sarah Mullally described as leaving her "sad and shocked.Organisers scrapped the entire Big Church Festival, which had been expected to draw up to 40,000 attendees across the bank holiday weekend.Strong winds toppled the wooden 'Everything's Unmissable' sign on the festival's opening day, Friday, prompting groups of up to 50 bystanders to help lift the timber board off those trapped beneath.A 41-year-old man from Eastbourne died after the sign crushed revellers at the Big Church Festival near Steyning, West Sussex.
Robert Guanco, a 41-year-old pastor at Jesus the Living Water Church in Eastbourne, was killed when a large wooden archway inscribed with the words 'Everything's Unmissable' collapsed at the Big Church Festival near Steyning, West Sussex, on Friday. His congregation paid tribute to him as 'a faithful servant of God, a loving husband to Isay, a devoted and caring father to Ellie'. Six people were injured, four of whom needed hospital treatment, and police are looking into whether the structure had been properly secured before it fell.
Eyewitness Fred Abbott, sat 20 metres away with his young family, said a 'strong gust of wind' toppled the sign as around 30 to 50 bystanders rushed to lift it.
A GoFundMe page for Guanco's wife and daughter has already raised more than £12,000 toward an £18,000 target.
The Archbishop of Canterbury described herself as 'sad and shocked', while the festival — billed as the UK's biggest Christian event — was closed early.
