Community leaders swapped their warm beds for the freezing hard ground to raise money and awareness for a good cause.

More than 40 fundraisers spent the night under the stars in the grounds of Holy Trinity Church, in Wimbledon Broadway as part of Sleep Easy; a event held by charities YMCA London South West and Faith in Action on Saturday, January 28.

Merton Council’s leader, Stephen Alambritis, said: “We all fall into our comfort zones with central heating and duvets and amenities and we take them for granted.

“We all look forward to the day when there are no homeless people but in the meantime it’s important to support good causes and to support charities that alleviate the problem.”

During the night, sleepers were kept entertained with a shelter building competition and a musical performance from YMCA Wimbledon residents while being kept warm with tea, coffee and midnight soup.

People of all ages took part, as well as the mayor of Merton, Councillor Gilli Lewis-Lavender (who officially opened the event) and her husband, Brian.

Coun Lewis-Lavender, said: “I was asked to come along and open the event but thought I should do the whole thing properly.

“You need to experience something so that you can understand what people are going through.”

This was the first year YMCA Sleep Easy took place in Wimbledon, although the event has run in Kingston for the past two years.

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