Sleeping under the stars on a clear, crisp night stirs wonderfully romantic connotations.
Less so if you’re outdoors in the middle of winter with only a sheet of cardboard separating you from a cold concrete floor.
It was in this situation I found myself along with a few hundred people of all ages .
The annual event helps generate vital cash for homelessness charity St Basils and also raises awareness of the problems faced by the city’s rough-sleeping population.
It was the first time I had taken part, following in the footsteps of previous Birmingham Post editors who have signed up as part of the newspaper’s ongoing support for the event.
However I’m sure all entrants would agree our single night in the cold pales into insignificance when you consider there are some people who have no choice but to do this every day and night.
I tried to keep this in mind when volunteering as part of the five-strong Post & Mail team, joining regional managing director Simon Edgley, publishing director Marc Reeves, commercial director Laura Bielinski and HR officer Imogene Hughes.
We arrived at 6pm on the dot to find ourselves a good spot to build our base and collect our three sheets of cardboard each.
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We were also given a sheet of tarpaulin as an added luxury. Those people at St Basils really know how to treat their guests!
Our home for the night was a dimly-lit street flanked by industrial buildings outside the St Basils Digbeth headquarters.
First job was to build our shelter and, being in the company of some of the finest management brains in regional commerce, we opted to pool our resources to construct a cosy communal shack.
The process resembled one of those management team-building exercises you either love or loathe – and I have to say I loved it.
The end result was a lean-to, of sorts, complete with open-plan accommodation and a kerbside decking area cleverly constructed with abandoned pallets.
Our shelter was compact, to say the least, and we soon realised there would be nowhere near enough space for all five of us so MD Simon did the honourable thing and opted to sleep alone in a purpose-built annexe.
Even for the remaining four of us the only way to squeeze in was to leave feet poking outside. Thankfully it didn’t rain or we would have been in real trouble.
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Imogene added the finishing touches by draping Christmas fairy lights across the entrance. It was like being in Lapland.
So, the hard work done, it was time to continue the team-building and off we marched to the Old Crown pub for a quick pint (medicinal purposes only, you understand) followed by the buzzing Digbeth Dining Club for a slice of pizza each.
And then it was back to base before St Basils’ 10pm curfew for a cup of tomato soup served up by those kind people at Harvey Nichols department store.
Next came the announcement of the hotly-anticipated ‘best shelter’ competition but after wandering the SleepOut site admiring shelters much sturdier and more robust than ours we knew in our heart of hearts we didn’t stand a chance.
And so it proved, with the prize going to a brilliant cardboard Tardis, a creation of which the Doctor would have been proud.
Bishop of Birmingham the Right Rev David Urquhart was on hand to lead a heart-warming midnight carol service and blessing at the neighbouring St Basil’s Church before ‘lights out’ at 1am and the real challenge – sleep.
After squeezing in to our shelter and pulling up my sleeping bag as tightly as possible I think I did just that, for about two hours anyway.
During periods of wakefulness the eerie silence was broken only by a team member’s light snoring (naming no names) and the sound of buses heading back to depots, giving me more time to contemplate how lucky I am that I don’t have to endure this as nightly routine.
The SleepOut finishes at 5am, at which time participants are allowed to leave the site (once they’ve cleared up) and then it’s home to warm beds with a warm glow knowing we’ve raised thousands for a fantastic cause.
• The Post & Mail team raised almost £2,500 for St Basils but we’ll happily take more – to donate go to
St Basils fact file
* 5,114 young people sought St Basils’ help during 2012/13 and were provided with advice and support via the charity’s Youth Hub in Birmingham and other Single Access Points (which offer homeless prevention support services) in Solihull and North Worcestershire.
* 628 young people and their families were supported through St Basils’ Family Mediation Service and 87 per cent of these Family Mediation interventions achieved a positive outcome.
* St Basils has 23 supported accommodation projects in Birmingham, 4 in North Worcestershire and 1 in Solihull.
* The charity accommodated 871 vulnerable young people as well as some of their young children during 2012/13 and 92 per cent of young people moved on in a planned way.