South West Sleep Out Raises £35k

By Anita Jaynes on 17 October, 2016

Action for Children South West’s annual sleep out event has raised over £35k to support the charity’s work in preventing homelessness and providing children and young people with a safe place to call home.

More than 80 business professionals from across the country spent the night sleeping out in Bristol’s Millennium Square. They joined more than 1,200 people across the UK – at simultaneous sleep outs in Belfast, Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, Manchester, Newcastle  and Reading  – who bedded out for the evening.

Since launching in 1998 Byte Night has raised over £8m. One of the projects which has benefited from this funding in the South West is such as the Dorset Nightstop, which provides emergency accommodation for homeless young people aged 16 – 25 years.

Chair of Byte Night board and KPMG director, Huw Brown said: “Byte Night South West was a great event once again and we are all extremely proud to have raised more than £35k

“Every year, I am proud to take part in Byte Night and helping to raise money and awareness to support Action for Children’s services. It is fantastic that the business and tech community in the South West is so committed to making Byte Night the success it is every year.

“We are already counting down to next year’s event. We urge the tech sector in the South West to make it their New Year’s Resolution to join us for Byte Night 2017.”

Action for Children Chief Executive Sir Tony Hawkhead, who slept out in Birmingham, added: “A huge thanks to everyone that slept out as part of this year’s Byte Night. It has been such an inspirational night with a great sense of camaraderie, and truly moving to see small and larger businesses from across the region working together to make a real difference to the children, young people and families we support.

“We already have big plans for next year’s event and registrations are now open, so please join one of the biggest annual fundraiser’s in the UK and help us provide essential support to those who need it the most.”

Teams from companies including BT, Lloyds Bank, Civica, KPMG, InfoSec People, Barclays, EY, Future PLC, EE and Santander and many others took part in the sleep out. To find out more about Byte Night visit www.bytenight.org.uk