Andover News

Sleep out in aid of homelessness charity

8:10am Friday 12th March 2010

A GROUP of dedicated fundraisers have shown their support for homeless charity Alabaré by camping out in Andover. On Friday 26 February 11 people dug out their sleeping bags and took to the floor of King Arthur’s Hall for the night, raising around £1,500.

The figure reached, which exceeded all expectations, was helped in no small part by the efforts of Neil Murphy who raised nearly £1,100 and Andover Sound’s Faye Marsh who raised more than £200. The sponsored sleep out, which has been organised by local fundraisers John Cockaday and Iris Andersen, was to raise money for Alabaré’s work in Andover.

The sleep out is a chance for people to consider some of the challenges faced by those who are homeless at the same time as raising awareness about the work that Alabaré does and raising funds for local projects.

Mr Cockaday said: “For some people taking part the sleep out was a new experience, but for others it was all too realistic as they had been in the position of being homeless themselves and were now able to help raise money for this cause.

“We were very grateful to receive some wonderful soup and food for breakfast from local supporters. We had visits from several local councillors and representatives from the police, all of whom were extremely enthusiastic about our event.

“This year we had a bigger group of sleepers than ever before and hopefully next year we can get even more people involved in the sleep out in King Arthur’s Hall,” said John.

Both John and Iris were keen to extend thanks to all the people who took part in the event.

The sleep out at King Arthur’s Hall was one of a series of events. A number of other sleep out/ins were also held across Wiltshire.

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