The following is the text of a letter received by The Gathering from the mates of the 12 year old boy mentioned in much of this year's post-Gathering media coverage:
The real story......
We were the twelve year old boys mates up at the G with him, We know it's in the past now, but we'd like to set a few things straight.
Firstly the boy in question didn't sneak in, he paid like everyone else. He didn't steal the bottle either. We were the ones who took him to the first aid tent, not just passers by. We didn't desert him or anything.
We were all young (14-15-16) and inexperienced. Also his older brother (age: 15 not 20) didn't give him a trip.
All this said we agree that it was a complete fuck up and we were very lucky the first aid people were on hand.
I guess one of the main things we learned was that if one of your mates is looking a bit dodgy, make sure you keep an eye on him/her. And if you're worried about them, don't be scared of taking them to the first aid tent or chill out zone. Its just a case of biting the bullet and telling someone. So if you are a bit under age make sure you go with someone you can trust to help you out if things go wrong. Of course if you don't take any alcohol, as it is a non-alcohol event, you won't have any of the problems we had.