Jersey charity boss calls for people to join sleep

A homeless charity in Jersey has invited islanders to join them at their annual sleep-out event.

Tim Ringsdore, head of Sanctuary Trust said the event "gives people a high-level feel" as to what it could be like if they were homeless.

In 2023, the charity raised £35,000 and Mr Ringdore said all people need is a sleeping bag and a piece of cardboard to sleep on.

The sleep-out will take place at Pier Road car park on Friday from 20:00 until 06:00 GMT.

For those attending, Mr Ringsdore warned that "it is not much fun" but said that it would "give everyone a flavour of what it might be like should you find yourself in that situation".

"It's cold and you are exhausted, frankly, because you don't get a lot of sleep," he said.

"We get a wide variety of people from young children to people of my age. The support we get from the community is absolutely fantastic and every penny counts."

He said the charity spent a lot of its resources primarily helping men.

"The trust is there to help these men in their hour of need and to try and get them back into society and help them be more self-sustaining and give them some hope," he said.

Mr Ringsdore added: "We have probably about 1,000 people on the island who are affected by [homelessness] so the work we do and the other charities do is absolutely essential to help these people back on their feet."