Young friends of Jean-Pierre Le Bachelet helped carry his coffin at a celebration of his life at the Vale Castle on Saturday. (Picture by Daniel Guerin, 0602249)

THEY were only boys themselves, supporting their friend, Jean-Pierre Le Bachelet, for the final time on their young shoulders.

It was the last thing they could do for their friend, their brother. They gripped each other’s shoulders, trying to find their feet over the grass and cobbles of the Vale Castle and deliver J-P, as they knew him, safely.

The 14-year-old Year 9 Grammar School student committed suicide almost three weeks ago and just under 300 people gathered to celebrate his life on Saturday.

The son of Mandy, who works at Specsavers, and Colin, an employee of the Royal Bank of Canada, Jean Pierre, J-P to anyone who knew him, had an older brother, Marcel, 17. Gary Vaudin led the humanist service, only the second such ceremony to have been conducted at the castle.

Mrs Le Bachelet said if any good was going to come from the death of her son it was that his friends had to communicate with each other more face to face. ‘Pick up the phone or go around to see them, hold their hand and tell them that you are there for them,’ she said.