Mum attends first Glastonbury to honour son who died of cancer

Callum Powell, from Ellesmere Port, started going to Glastonbury with his friends in 2016 when he was 22 and took his ‘The Costa Del Porto’ flag to the festival. 

Nicola Powell, Callum's mum, said she would "always watch Glastonbury on the TV trying to spot his flag flying high."   

Callum at Glastonbury in 2017 (Image: Nicola Powell)

After attending the festival three times, Callum, who was a lover of the band Foals, secured tickets again in 2020, but the event was later postponed due to Covid for two years and in May 2021 he was told that he had stage four gastro-oesophageal cancer at the age of 27.

Oesophageal cancer affects 9,000 people per year in the UK, who are all mostly over the age of 75.  

After a 12-month battle, Callum died in May 2022.

Callum and his mum Nicola (Image: Nicola Powell)

The ‘Costa Del Porto’ flag played a part at Callum's funeral on June 16 2022 which was attended by over 400 people.

Callum's friends and his sister, Chloe Powell went to Glastonbury the week after the funeral to fly the flag in his name.

Flag at Glastonbury during Paul McCartney last year (Image: Nicola Powell)

This year, Nicola, along with Chloe, family and her son's friends, will be going to Glastonbury, so she can experience what her son "loved most".

The 55-year-old said: "When the tickets went on sale in December, we tried but were unsuccessful. Unbeknownst to us, Chloe and her friends managed to get us tickets so we could all go.   

"Obviously, I’m made up to be going to Glastonbury with Chloe, family members and friends but it's very bittersweet as Cal won’t be with us as I always wanted to go to the festival as a family.

"He loved festivals but Glastonbury was always his favourite. To know I am going to experience what he loved and fly his flag will just be amazing."

This will be the last time the group are going to take Callum's flag to Glastonbury, so Nicola explained it will be very "special to fly his flag alongside his friends one last time".

Nicola said she "can't wait" and is excited to see Elton John and the Arctic Monkeys. 

Glastonbury in 2018 (Image: Nicola Powell)

Remembering Callum...

In the last 12 months, a bench in Callum's memory has been placed in Hoylake looking out over the sea.   

Callum also worked for GTM in Manchester and they have renamed the Board Room in their office in Callum’s memory.

The Cosmic Cape festival, on August 5, has been organised by one of Callum’s school friends and a stage will be named after him with some of the proceedings from the festival donated to The Christie’s Research Fund in his memory. 

Since Callum died in May 2022 friends and family have raised and donated £29k for the Oesophagus Cancer Research Fund in the hope of finding more treatment options for this specific cancer. To donate, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/callumpowell94.