Carters Arms regulars to sleep out in Wilmslow

The sleep-out is being organised by Roy Parrish, from Wilmslow, regional manager at Housing Hand, a guarantor service for students and working professionals.

Roy wanted to do something last year to help the homeless after seeing people sleeping in doorways when he visited estate agents as part of his role.

He raised £155 in donations from members of his team, which was matched by his company.

With the £311 he was able to buy 28 winter sleeping bags at a substantially reduced price from Go Outdoors in Stockport.

He presented the sleeping bags to Manchester-based charity Mustard Tree, which supports people across Greater Manchester in need to develop new skills, find work and secure somewhere to live.

Roy is again looking to support the charity in the run-up to Christmas by sleeping out outside Barclays Bank in Grove Street, Wilmslow, from 7pm on Saturday, December 8 to 7am the following morning.

Joining Roy for the fundraiser will be Perry Getty, George Colledge and Lewis Smith.

“We chose to sleep out outside Barclays because it’s a prominent position in the town centre, where people walk past,” said Roy.

“I want to experience what it is like for a homeless person to sleep out on the streets, and we will not be wearing anything special to keep out the cold, just our normal clothes.

“A lot of local businesses are putting up posters for us to publicise the sleep-out, one of the aims of which is to raise awareness of homelessness and to open a few eyes.

“I am hoping to raise more than £1,000, and people can donate by dropping change into our collecting buckets or visit our online donations page.”

People who would like to donate can do so at justgiving.com/fundraising/housinghand-sleepout

A spokesman for Mustard Tree said: “Rough sleeping and chronic poverty is on the rise.

“Year on year there has been an increase of 13,000 people becoming homeless in Britain, where one in 200 are homeless.”