GREAT bales of sleeping bags were intrepidly rolled out on the lawns and covered walk ways of Queen Anne's School in Caversham on Friday for the Big Sleep Out.

Hosted by Reading homeless charity Launchpad, the event aimed to raise funds and awareness for the homeless and those with housing difficulties across the borough.

Heavy rain clouds having rolled away and the sun finally shining, the 63 participants gathered in the school's sports hall for a presentation outlining the severity of the homeless problem in Reading.

The centrepiece came from a young Reading mother who was evicted with her two young children on Christmas Eve. She was later moved into accommodation she described as 'looking like a crack house'.

The mother's description of the help offered to her by the charity, which included providing a double buggy for her children and help finding permanent accommodation, exemplified the work Launchpad does with both those on the street and those facing the perils of an increasingly exclusionary Reading housing market.

Once Reading Mayor Councillor Mohammed Ayub had awarded the best shelter prize the at this point still happy campers trooped out into a decreasingly balmy summer night.

“I came here to get some perspective on homeless,” explained Betty Mungai, a Jacobs engineer whose flat-pack sleeping arrangement trembled ominously in the wind.

“I think it is easy to have preconceived ideas about what kind of people are homeless. For me this event is about education as much as it is about raising funds.”

While Launchpad staff were keen to stress that the primary focus of the event was indeed educational, more than £13,500 was raised through the event, with a steady stream of late donations looking to take the total above £15,000.

After an acoustic guitar sing-a-long led by Davie McGirr and hot soup made by Shed Cafe from vegetables grown on the Launchpad allotment, the daunting task of sleeping through the night began.

Amanda Rose, Launchpad Marketing Manager, said: “Our sleep out is very much a tiny insight into what it is actually like to sleep rough.

“Everyone was safe, they had access to toilets. Then many of us go home. Have a bath and go straight to bed, exhausted from just one night sleeping out – the reality for people really sleep rough is they have to do it night after night.”

You can still support this year’s Big Sleep Out by texting LPAD16 £10 to 70070. The date of next year's event will be announced soon.