The life of MP Jo Cox will be celebrated at the Glastonbury Festival on what would have been her 42nd birthday.
As part of birthday tributes to the mother-of-two spanning from New York to Nairobi, festival co-organiser Emily Eavis has urged campers to come together to remember the MP she called “such a wonderful, inspiring woman who gave so much”.
Read more: MPs weep as moving tributes are paid to Jo Cox, who represented the "best of humanity"
On Monday, she tweeted: “We’re holding a tribute for Jo Cox at 4pm, Weds at The Park stage on what would have been her 42nd birthday. Please come along if you’re here.”
Floral tributes left in Parliament Square, London, after Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death (Yui Mok/PA)
Wednesday will see the start of arrivals to the festival, with over 180,000 festival-goers expected to pour in over the rest of the week to see hundreds of acts including headliners Muse, Adele and Coldplay on the famous Pyramid Stage.
After battling heavy flooding, traffic jams and a long trudge to the campsite, those arriving today can expect a mostly dry two days to explore the biggest-ever grounds before Glastonbury officially kicks off on Friday morning with Gwenno on The Park Stage at 11am.
Read more: Memorial fund set up for Labour MP Jo Cox passes £1 million mark
Other highlights of the festival include its first classical music headliner in a tribute to David Bowie, Jeff Lynne’s ELO in the Sunday “Legends” slot and even a talk from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Adele (Dominic Lipinski / PA )
Idris Elba fans will be disappointed, however, as he pulled out of his DJ slot just one day ahead of the festival beginning due to scheduling conflicts with his new film The Dark Tower.
Glastonbury apology….Sorry peeps. :( https://t.co/rEWejKdBU8
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) June 21, 2016
In more bad news for campers, the site is already being hailed a mudbath even before thousands of wellies get their chance to churn up the soil, with workers sharing pictures of boggy fields and submerged paths.
More rain is predicted across the weekend, with Saturday expected to be the wettest of the festival.
But the Met Office has told ticket holders that sunglasses will be just as essential packing as wellies as it forecasts the mercury to top 21C (70F) on Thursday and a balmy 19C (66F) over Saturday and Sunday.
Police are expected to crack down on legal highs during the festival following the introduction of the new Psychoactive Substances Act that could see dealers face up to seven years in prison.
A reminder that the campervan/caravan fields do not open until 6pm this evening. Please don't bring your van to the local area before that.
— Glastonbury Festival (@GlastoFest) June 21, 2016
Avon and Somerset Police warned: “No matter what you may have heard, we have a zero tolerance policy to illegal substances.
“Security checks on your way into the site are stringent and the festival’s security staff are well practised in finding any place you might decide to hide your stash.”
This year’s festival will coincide with the EU referendum result, which will be announced on Friday morning.
Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis has expressed his support for the Remain campaign.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article