Reading festival

cashewnut

I went to Reading in 2002 shortly after I turned 18. Had a whale of a time...went to Glastonbury the following year and had an even better time!

Tell her to remember where she's put her tent - look for landmarks around it. I forgot to do this and had a stressful hour or so searching for the damn thing after my friend I was sharing with and I had wandered off to town for supplies, came back and the landscape had changed considerably due to more people arriving.

lush_walrus

Reading as it is so close to the station has always attracted under 18s more than the other festivals so she will around lots her own age and have a great time. As its rock you also tend to get a mix of older people too so those in their 40s can be found around.

As others have said really it's well managed and everything is based around a central square really with camping off to two sides of that.

Advice for her would be leave nothing of value in her tent and lock it anyway. Drink in tents will be stolen. Take as little as possible with her and keep it on her.

Pitch your tent out of the way, not close to toilets and not on the main drag. Young people tend to fall into the trap of pitching it close to the arena, toilets there are the most basic and have been tipped over and everyone will be trapskng past your tent at all times. Also pitch it up high, it often rains and again the tents lowest and in the drag are the ones caked in mud and people find hilarious to tip over. Get your tent up off the drag in the middle somewhere, a lot bring flags or something to find their tent.

If she is likely to like a bit of quiet there is a campsite I think from memory white that is the quietest.

As others have said its a short walk to town and well trod so easy enough to find and pop to to get money out (don't bother queueing close to the festival there is always a massive queue for the bp garage, walk another 10 mins and no queue).

Things to make sure she has is a torch, if it does pour down and she is pitched away from the drag it can be dark and hard to see where you are walking to find your tent or toilet in the night. Solar chargers are good for this.

She will have a great time...

paddyrg

Lol some great tips here. Really wouldn't worry about the pregnancy thing, festivals have a lot more fun distractions if she's sensible.

As for the half the clothes, twice the cash thing - absolutely. This is no time for hair straighteners or best clothes and they'll only lead to regret. If you've got cash, you can get/replace/find everything you want on site. There will be at least one overpriced general store selling Aldi stuff at Fortnum prices, but it means at least essentials are available (toothbrush, sanitary wear, sunscreen) if forgotten. There's bound to be some schlepping from the car park/entrance to the camping, so only take the minimum she can carry (with the tent) to save multiple trips that will suddenly seem a bad idea once there. And best not leave stuff in cars either, yes there will be cast park security but they're large, dark sites and impossible to secure properly.

Fact is the organisers are big business, and they want people to have fun, spend money, and come back next year. As such, they want everyone to be safe and happy, and will provide facilities for that. There are welfare areas where anyone having a tough time can get cared for (like an on-site ideal mother), there are security patrols, they have health and safety consultants at the highest levels, embedded within the productions, the construction elements are all CDM, they work with the police, fire and ambulance services to make the roads and site and access are safe. It's not a bunch of kids just turning up and letting loose, it's a very structured environment under the covers.

I work with several huge festival site managers (not Reading, but they all know one another), and whilst the attraction is that it all looks a bit wild and free, there's an infrastructure there for it to be actually well designed and executed!

Hope this reassures a little

hazyjo

Some good tips above. Dry shampoo a godsend. A hat/cap also good! I tied my hair back and wore a baker-boy style cap for 3 days. Small compact mirror. Lip balm (tinted good instead of lippy). Sunscreen. Hairbands to tie hair back, bottom of plaits or whatever.


Jx

cats2012

I went at 16 and had an absolute blast. Just tell her to be careful, trust her instincts and take enough money

GBNI

I've done a few different festivals, but never Reading. My main thing would be - MAKE SURE THE TENT IS WATERPROOF! My friend brought the tent to the last one I went to. Turned out it wasn't waterproof and after one night we ended up sleeping in the car


Clothing wise - nothing she's precious about. Primark is the way forward. Wellie/shorts/funky tights are a good combo as they don't weigh you down if you get soaked, like jeans would. Lightweight, waterproof jacket that can be easily rolled up and stored if she gets nice weather!


Get a large backpack, use a black bin bag as a liner so if it does rain, her clothes will be protected. I never understood those trying to drag suitcases. Then take a mini back pack to carry during the day (I always went for one that zipped up and had a flap over any openings as well, harder to get into) again, line the inside of the small bag with some sort of plastic bag to protect stuff inside. Carry toothbrush, toothpaste, wipes, suncream, tissues in said bag. The toilets in the main area are generally cleaner than the campsite ones.


Dry shampoo is a must, although I did manage to wash my hair when their was nicer weather! A hand towel is handy to take. If she wears make up, tell her to take very basic stuff that she wouldn't mind if it gets lost.


Oh! And hide some bottle tops in the bottom of her small 'day' bag that she'd carry during the day. When you buy a drink in the main area they remove the lids. So means she can put a lid onto the drink and save some instead of drinking it in one go!

skint_chick

She'll need suncream, baby wipes, bin liners, wellies, toilet rolls, painkillers, earplugs, eye mask/pillow to keep the early sunrise out, solar charger, windup torch (the head ones are the best for nighttime toilet trips), ziplock bags (to keep stuff clean/dry) condoms, dry shampoo, and as little else as possible, maybe some snack like granola bars

We always had a flag on our tent to find it, I started going to Reading when I was 15 and wasn't a particularly trustworthy or sensible teenager. But there's no more reason why teenagers would get into trouble at a festival than on any other night out.