Welcome to Reading! Revellers arrive lugging backpacks and overnight kit as festival featuring Foals, The Killers, Lewis Capaldi and Billie Eilish begins

• READ MORE: Festival goers set for ‘heavy’ showers all weekend
• READ MORE: Revellers at Reading say they’ve ‘never seen campsite so rammed’

Huge crowds of revellers have descended on Reading festival today to celebrate the bank holiday weekend despite the gloomy Met Office forecast.

The packed out event – which is expected to be attended by 105,000 people- will see a host of musical stars perform including Billie Eilish, Foals, The Killers and Lewis Capaldi.  

It’s thought that thousands of teenagers across the country will be in attendance on for a weekend of partying after receiving their GSCE results with early signs promising the event will be as busy as it has ever been. 

Pictures have emerged of festival goers carrying, wheeling and lugging their bags filled with camping supplies as they approach the campsites. 

Yesterday revelers complained of long queues to enter Reading festival with others saying they had ‘never seen it so rammed’ after only one day. 

Thousands of punters have descended on Reading festival to celebrate the bank holiday 

Reading Festival fans walking along The Thames Path prior to the start

The event has become a staple for those wanting to celebrate their GCSE results

Fans arrive for the first day of Reading Festival at the Kings Meadow drop off point

Pictures have emerged of festival goers carrying, wheeling and lugging their bags filled with camping supplies

Pictures of punters walking along the Thames path on approach to the event show young people in high spirits despite a relatively dour forecast from the Met Office who have said there are ‘no signals’ of any hot weather to come.

Today’s showers – some of which could be thundery – are set to continue with ‘heavy’ rain predicted for Saturday and Sunday.

A mixture of sunny spells and showers tomorrow, with a risk of hail in the north and west of the UK.

The Met Office’s Mr Keates said: ‘While showers are never too far away through the weekend, there will still be drier spells around and where there are breaks in the cloud on Sunday in the south it should feel quite pleasant.

‘Areas to the southeast will see fewer showers with more in the way of bright or sunny spells on Saturday and Sunday, though temperatures are likely to remain around average for the time of year. Areas further north and west will see more frequent showers, some of which will be heavy, and will at times extend south into central areas of England and Wales on Saturday and Sunday.’

Spirits are high despite the Met Office warning there are ‘no signals’ of any hot weather to come

105,000 people are expected to attend the event which will see stars like Lewis Capaldi perform

Revellers have packed everything they could possibly need for three days camping 

Pictures of punters walking along the Thames path on approach to the event show young people in high spirits

The music at Reading festival begins in earnest tonight and punters are excited 

As the festival is always held on the August bank holiday weekend it has become a staple for those wanting to celebrate their GCSE results – but some have been warned to take care while partying. 

The father of a teenager who died after taking ecstasy at Reading’s sister event Leeds Festival has warned young people going to this year’s event of the risk of being ‘groomed’ by people who are ‘only interested in selling you drugs’.

David Celino, 16, died after he was taken ill at the festival in August last year, an inquest heard earlier this month.

As thousands of people prepare to attend the event this weekend, David’s parents Nicola and Gianpiero Celino urged parents to talk to their children about drugs.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mrs Celino said: ‘I think we were a little naive, you know, we’ve come from a background where we’ve not really experimented ourselves and it would have been good to have had more frank conversations with him about it.’

The father of teenager David Celino have warned revellers to avoid drugs 

Gianpiero and Nicola Celino, the parents of David Celino, speak to the media outside Wakefield Coroner’s Court following the conclusion of the inquest into the 16-year-old’s death after taking ecstasy at the Leeds Festival

Mr Celino said: ‘If I could say one thing to (parents) it would be ‘Sit down and have that conversation’.

‘But most people who go to these festivals go as a group. It’s really important that that group prepares for what might happen if things go wrong.

‘In David’s case, what happens if you run out of alcohol? Are you going to be tempted?

‘People are going to befriend you who seem like they’re cool festival people that you want to associate with but actually they’re trying to groom you, they’re only interested in selling you drugs and actually one of the most dangerous things you can do is to take that step.’

The inquest in Wakefield heard that David had gone to the festival, which attracts more than 90,000 people every summer to Bramham Park, near Leeds, with five friends from their homes in Worsley, Greater Manchester.

He became ill after taking ecstasy, which his group bought from a dealer in the Camping Plus area of the festival, and died after being taken to hospital in Leeds. 

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