Up to 15,000 festival-goers are believed to have converged on the Stone Circle at Glastonbury this week to create the world’s largest human peace sign.

Organisers of the massive annual festival estimate that 15,000 punters and staff gathering at the Stone Circle, considered the spiritual centre of the festival, to make an unofficial bid to have the most people ever to form a peace symbol.

The record is held by a 2009 gathering of 5,814 people who stood together at the Ithaca Festival in New York. Because of practicalities, that record won’t be broken as so many people can’t be counted in the time period imagined.

Glastonbury announced the event in order to send a message of peace to the world, in the wake of recent terrorist atrocities in Manchester and London.

William Hawk, from Standing Rock, addressed the thousands in attendance and led prayers for victims of the recent tragedies. “We don’t need this in our world,” he told the crowd. “Peace and love comes about simply by giving peace and love.”

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A 36 year old volunteer who organised the world record attempt via a Facebook page said: “I feel very humbled that people have joined together for something that represents everything that is good about Glastonbury, everything that is good about humanity. The numbers are awesome, I can’t believe how many people are here. They were still steaming in through the entrances when it happened. It made my heart sing.”

Nearly 200,000 people are currently descending upon Worthy Farm for three days’ worth of sun and music, which officially begins tomorrow. Foo Fighters, Radiohead and Ed Sheeran top the bill on the Pyramid Stage over the weekend.

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