Comedian Bill Bailey and the Great British Bake Off’s Sandi Toksvig will be part of the entertainment at this year’s SleepOut for the homeless at Southwark Cathedral.
Bailey will lead a line-up of entertainment at the Robes Project SleepOut tomorrow, Friday, while Toksvig will give an interview on stage.
Young tenor Dominick Felix, who helps at a shelter on the Old Kent Road, will perform for the crowds, along with brass band Oompah.
This is the seventh annual SleepOut at Southwark Cathedral, and hundreds are expected to brave potentially freezing cold, wet and windy weather to spend a night sleeping in the churchyard to raise money for the Robes Project homeless shelters.
This year’s event aims to raise £130,000 – half of the project’s running costs – to help it run shelters in two locations each night of the winter.
The Robes Project rehoused 44 people last year, and the previous event raised more than £100,000, with over 120 people taking part.
Speaking ahead of the event, Bill Bailey said: “Homelessness should not be happening in our advanced society, and we must do all that we can to help those who spend every night sleeping rough.
“It is vital that everyone should have a safe, dry and warm place that they can call home.
“I applaud anyone who is willing to join the SleepOut and raise as much as they can to get people off the streets this winter.”
To register for the event, visit www.robes.org.uk or email robes.admin@robes.org.uk.