AN act of kindness by a group of friends from Downend has changed the life of a young DJ with autism.
Adam James had travelled to the Boomtown dance music festival in Hampshire on his own. His family was so worried that his dad made plans to bring his 23-year-old son home if he wanted to leave the five-day festival early.
But as Adam set up camp alone, a chance conversation with Ciaran Herniman, of Downend, and a group of his friends from the area changed everything.
Ciaran said: “We’d been to Boomtown before and have a spot where we like to camp.
“We got there and put our tents up, and in the process someone said they needed a mallet.
“This kid who was camped next to us offered to lend his.
“I noticed he was on his own, he had the smallest tent and he didn’t have a mattress.
“Then he said it was his first festival.
“I thought ‘that’s bad’ – the festival has got about 80,000 people, and he’s on his own.
“As soon as he told me that, I said ‘jump in with us’. We moved his tent into our circle and just set off from there. We looked after him and made sure he was all right.
“He loved it and when we came to leave, he was crying his eyes out!”
Afterwards Ciaran, who works for insurance company Aviva’s accident repair service, and his friends kept in touch with Adam.
They invited him to Downend to DJ at the Trident pub. Then he played at Bambalan rooftop bar, opposite the Bristol Beacon.
Ciaran said: “Some of my boys I hang around with got him on the bill – he absolutely killed it!”
But it was a social media post from Adam’s dad Andy, of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, that took things to another level.
Andy’s post thanked the “lads from Bristol” for helping Adam to realise his dreams of enjoying the festival.
It went viral, bringing the story to the attention of the music industry and national media.
Adam and Ciaran appeared on BBC Breakfast News and ITV’s Good Morning Britain, and Adam, who performs as Adzo, has now been invited to DJ at next year’s Boomtown festival.
Before that, he will perform at a dance music celebration called A History of Rave at Bristol’s Prospect Building, headlined by DJ Eats Everything and Groove Armada, on October 17.
Adam said: “It’s been overwhelming, but absolutely brilliant.”
He said Ciaran and his friends “could have just ignored me, but the fact they saw I was on my own and took me in was just amazing”.