BYPHS held a sponsored charity sleep out on Friday 22nd April 2016. It is the first time we have ever done it, and it most certainly will not be the last. I had been to a Centrepoint workshop about 2 years ago about successful sleep outs and meant to get organised. They suggested selecting a well known venue (bearing in mind you have to legally offer access to toilets) and I tried a couple of times by contacting some high profile venues locally, but got knocked back twice. So, time went on, and eventually I just thought I would try again, but without getting hung up on where it was; surely the important thing was that we did it?
So, I sent a text to the CEO of Bolton at Home, and straight away he said yes we could use their site, and that was that. I met the facilities manager a couple of weeks later, and we were off. I literally plucked a date out of thin air; nothing scientific, just something in advance that would give us time to promote it.
A few days later we had a flyer, registration forms, risk assessment, fact sheets and insurers approval. We needed sleepers. This was hard, but eventually we had 18 names. People started to get sponsors and a few tweets and facebook shares, and it just snowballed. My target amount to raise was £1500; £150 a person. A week before we only had 11 people confirmed and I did one final tweet and another person joined on the last registration day. Three days before I met a man at a conference at Bolton University, we were fellow speakers at an event called “changing attitudes; changing lives” and he said I inspired him to sign up. With 2 days to go he joined us and started getting sponsors too.
On the day, we had 11 people who had registered and paid, and between us, we had raised just over £3,500, which was immense. But more was to come over the weekend. Our sleepers raised £4600 between them that night, and what an impact that will have on young people. It is not for running costs or anything like that – every penny will be used to assist a young person directly whilst they live in one of our services. Emergency food parcels, equipment for college or trips and activities off site for leisure or education. I am so grateful to everyone who helped, supported us, sponsored us, and those that stayed out all night with me. We will be doing it again next year to celebrate BYPHS’ 25th birthday.
We all arrived at 7pm, and some friends/family joined us for moral support. A journalist from the Bolton News came and promoted the event, and a professional photographer Philip Burke, came to do a free photo shoot for our own records. The Green Cafe (catering academy) had supplied free soup to keep us going, and after our interviews and photographs we had a quiz. The Octagon Theatre had donated some theatre tickets as a prize, and won by our last minute sleeper, Ian. So between the visitors, the quiz and the soup, the next thing it was getting on for 11pm.
Mark Price from ‘make your dreams come true’ called down to visit us and gave out certificates and chocolates to all our sleepers to say thank you from BYPHS. He entertained us for a while with stories and left when it was so dark we could hardly see him!
We started to mark our spots and set up our little sleeping spaces. The cardboard had been donated by Outerspace Packaging and IT solutions, and the mats were on loan from the Bolton Lads and Girls Club.
Three colleagues set off with just one torch in the pitch dark to investigate an area, and to see if it was suitable to sleep on. We heard almighty screaming, and for a few seconds it was all a bit Blair Witch, but I realised they had found a life size statue of a man in the Green Cafe patio garden, which in the dark, looked like a Ninja, hiding, ready for ambush.
I made up my bed and things started to quieten down, but I could hear an owl which spooked me a little, and I thought someone was trying to scare me. It was working. But after several minutes, I realised it was real and so were the bats. I’ve never been camping or anything like it in my life. I never will either. Getting my plus size arse into the sleeping bag was a challenge, since I had two coats on and my jeans. But Lesley zipped me and tucked me in. It was bang on midnight. The evening had gone well. No one had fallen out, no accidents or any dramas. We were all safe and things went hushed. I looked up and I could see stars, it was a clear night but I was stone cold. Lay there not moving, my hands, nose and ankles had started to go numb, and I had socks and gloves on! So I lay there, on the concrete, with my rucksack as a pillow thinking this is shite.
What if I don’t sleep at all? It’s not a sleep out it was a stay out!
I did drop off, because I woke at 2.15am to hear a radio journalist interviewing one of my colleagues. I went back to sleep but woke at 3.30am and again at 5am. I had even begun to get used to the sound of snoring coming from another colleague, who clearly slept soundly all night like a bear. I considered poking him with a stick at one point, but couldn’t be bothered moving as I was so cold. So I left it.
I got up at 5am, because my lower back was killing me, and it was daylight anyway. I wandered around the car park trying to warm up and waited, but most people were awake, and packing up by 6.30am. I was thinking about the impact on my mood, my material possessions, the fire risk of all this cardboard, health implications for those doing this long term. Sometime in the night, my face had gone all blotchy and red, and I still don’t know why? We had breakfast at 7am, and discussed how we felt about the event.
No-one was in a jovial mood, but we were all happy to have done it, completed the event, and raised so much money. We were uncomfortable, tired and cold. But we all said and agreed, without exception, that we fully appreciated this was only one night, and as much as we experienced some discomfort, it wasn’t real.
What would happen if that was to happen again the next night, and the next night. Where would we go through the day? Where do you use the toilet at 5am? Who feeds you? If you have a sleeping bag, where can you safely leave it? What happens when you are alone in the dark? We had each other and knew we were on CCTV so relatively safe. What happens if you become ill?
What happens when you have no choice – we all chose to be here?
People were teasing me about foxes and rats, but seriously, people who are rough sleeping must encounter this. I was more worried about that than anything else. Waking up and being face to face with a creature.
What happens if you were assaulted? Would anyone know or even care?
What happens when it rains or snows; we were lucky and although it was windy and cold, it was dry.
What about people with health issues, either physical or mental? If that was us, would we drink or take drugs to get by, block things out… probably YES. Would you have sex or commit an offence to get on someone’s sofa, floor or their bed, like 20% of young people who come to BYPHS? I would.
I thought long and hard about where we should sleep for one night – if that was for real, how do you decide where to go? People who are rough sleeping are abused verbally and physically, urinated on, set fire to and killed. Just for rough sleeping. No wonder they become invisible. I then let my emotions get the better of me, and thought I will set up a service; something basic for rough sleepers – no criteria, just crash pads. Every way I looked at it there were barriers. Money, building/location, insurance, staffing/security, safeguarding, risk, reputational damage, political will, and I have talked myself out of it. Who am I to assume that those who are rough sleeping all require an intervention, just because it bothers me?
I read a book, Stuart – a life backwards by Alexander Masters. It is superb. Stuarts of this world are the reason I do what I do. If you are not a reader watch the film it’s got Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch in it so it’s worth it just for that. Based on a true story Stuart tells us it takes just 3 weeks to adjust to a rough sleeping lifestyle and in actual fact it’s easier than managing a flat. No bills and no responsibility. I don’t want our young people to be the next Stuart Clive Shorter.
So, for now, I am going to carry on doing my bit for BYPHS and try and intervene with young people who are at such risk of harm through being homeless. If we break the cycle now and equip them with the skills required to live and cope independently, they won’t be the rough sleepers or service users of the future. For those who think what we did wasn’t real enough because we had the luxury of a toilet, hot drinks and a sleeping bag, you are right. I know it’s nothing like the real thing. But the alternative is doing nothing at all, and that, my friends, is just not my style.
Much Love
Maura
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