Inside Out
Depaul UK Fundraising is raising money for Depaul UK
Participants: Dave Batchelor, Jason McKenna, Stephanie Cook, Kieran Walsh, Sharon Tilburn, Andrew Atherton, Richard Rawlinson, Neil Thomas, Mary Shannon
Story
Thank you
I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you who, either: donated to the event, came to visit us on the night or helped with advice and logistic support.
All participants successfully completed the night without incident. Along with the money raised on the Just Giving website, we also received £50 from Costco and Tesco on Huddersfield Road have also offered practical items. We are also waiting for final figures from Threshold and individual sponsor forms. We were followed through the night by 40 people on 'twitter' who have been giving some thoughts to Craig Harris from the Oldham Theatre Workshop whose account we borrowed. He is going to use this in a piece of work of some kind.
We were all very touched by the generosity of those who came out to support us, bringing us food and hot drinks. The night started off quite light heartedly, as we talked with a few young people who dropped by and local counsellors who happened to be passing after a meeting at the civic. We played a bit of football to stay warm too, around 8.30 people started turning up with food, a bag of sweets, flasks of coffee and pies with chips and a local coffee van 'Perk up Your Day' who gave out hot chocolate. We took a picture of each visitor with the group (to be published at a later date); young people from YOS Reperation had made a banner which we put up for anyone passing to see what we were about. Everyone started to try and get some sleep at about 12 am. This was when we had a more authentic experience. Even though we were in a group, when the banter stops and you're cold and can't sleep it's a bit miserable. Imagine, having to try and sort out your benefits and attend interviews after only a few hours sleep, knowing that perhaps you'll be back in the same spot that night! This is the reality for some, thankfully not for many in Oldham, but having a taste of what it could be like is quite eye opening.
We just have to plan for next year now.