To worry about PFB going to Reading

[KingscoteStaff]

DS is planning to go to Reading Festival after GCSE results day. He would be going with 5 friends and would know quite a few other people there too.

He has never been to a festival. He has never been to a pop concert! He has slept in a tent once, at PGL in Year 6.

Now I was feeling very positive about this new experience but over the last fortnight it seems that everyone I talk to has a Reading Horror Story. Apparently:

1. He will drink far too much, vomit in his sleep and asphyxiate.
2. He will take drugs for the first time and become instantly addicted.
3. While drunk/high he will have a terrible, life-changing accident.
4. While drunk/high he will forget to take his asthma medication and have an attack.
5. Unknown scary people will set his tent on fire.
6. Unknown scary people will attack him and steal his money/phone.

Does anyone have any slightly less horrific Reading experiences and (even more helpfully) some Top Tips for successful 16 year old festivalling?

One of Ds’s 16 yo friends ordered 80 cans of beer off the internet and got the whole lot straight through security on a trolley!

But then they got their empty water bottles taken off them on the way into the arena. And the food stalls sell them bottles of water but took the caps off before handing them over.

Central swimming pool is a 20 minute walk away if you want a shower

Closed now :( I'd have thought Rivermead was closer anyway?

You walk past rivermead on the walk to get to the ticket /wristband bit and they provide showers over the weekend but showers!?!?, part of the festival experience is to come home stinking, filthy, worn out and having the best time off your life. Bit of dirt didn't harm anyone.

I really hate this with festivals now. There is no such thing as a disposable tent, and someone has to deal with all the tents left behind. It’s awful seeing people just leaving them behind when they could be used time again. It’s so wasteful.

It is wasteful and I would never do it, but …..

…. as a Girlguiding leader, we get invited to help clear up after some festivals and get to take home the tents that can be used again, so it's not all bad.