IT'S OVER - RESPECT TO ANYONE WHO LIVE'S ON THE STREET (and not through choice)

from the Bright Purple Noses

 

Nick Price gives his first hand account of one night from hell (02.10.09) .............................

Well what a night that was!

Anyone who think's people living on the street might be 'at it' in certain cases (I was one who might of pre-judged from time to time), should try a Byte Night out!

Total respect from my team to anyone forced to live on the streets of the UK, young or old, because last night turned into one of the hardest experiences of my 48 years - in fact harder than the 4 days I spent at altitude walking 4 Alpine glaciers - hand on heart!

We ventured out of the Scottish Parliment around 10pm'ish after a bowl of warm chilli, to take up our places in Holyrood Park, only to be met by rain and wind as soon as we stepped out of the door - great start. After some banter and an auction inside a small marquee, meeting the very stunning STV weather girl Jean Johansson (that was Nick's special moment), it was out in to the field and off we trudged miserably with our ground sheet and our sleeping bag's and the most essential item, our orange survival bags. Over 100 hardy souls decided to take up the challenge in Edinburgh, how many in the South I wonder, hundreds?

Spirits were high amongst the Noses, but maybe that was because the spirits that were drunk to battle the cold, were taking affect? Everyone was suitably relaxed, the patter was good and then the wind started to drive in to us and it was only midnight. Dee decided to sing, it started with 'Stary Stary Night' and actually it was the same song for an hour - christ she's annoying (but a real star at the same time)! The rain started to fall and we tried to jockey for positions on the groundsheet - old boy Nick, wisest of the crew, found his strategy had worked and found the middle of the sheet, flanked by Ryan and Claire - natural wind and rain breakers!! Mike was snuggled up, cosy in his bag and with his Rick Astley haircut still intact! Dee, well she was still wandering around in her own little world, still singing and annoying everyone who was trying to get what little sleep they could.

3am we were hit by absolutely driving, torrential rain and the wind was whistling through our flimsy survival bags. Dee told us she needed the toilet 'again' and Ryan still suffering from jet lag, having just returned from a wedding in Chicago, was trying to keep his eyes shut. However Dee, who decided against sleeping in her sleeping bag wanted to cuddle in with him - Dee I don't think you realised Ryan's bag was made for just one?

Puddles were now building fast all around us as the rain continued to fall and one thing you notice sleeping rough is, how noisey it is! Bags rustling, people talking, singing and laughing, snoring, cars passing at a distance, everything just seemed more noisey. Why is that?

5am the rain was now pounding our position and if we had been in the trenches fighting, we'd have evacuated our post by then and as expected, that's when there were rumblings of discontent in the Noses camp! Dee still needed the toilet and now really needed! After a few choice words, she raised herself off the groundsheet - wet through and headed off. I turned to put my umbrella up, to see wee Claire now laying off the groundsheet and on the flooded grass- with her head and hat (Steve Tierney's) in a large puddle of water. I thought, wow she might actually drown, but then i thought "what the hell, i'm too cosy in my own bag - as cosy as I could be."

You'll be happy to hear she didn't drown, she did in fact give us all a fit of giggles and as we all realised that the groundsheet was now flooded, we couldn't stop giggling - tiredness maybe? We were all getting wetter the more the rain fell and nothing was going to stop it. Everything was now funny and it didn't even matter when we eventually found Dee's mobile phone laying some way away from us and soaking - that was funny as well.

Now it became a battle of the strongest or daftest, to see who'd stay the course and be last man or woman standing!

Now 5:30am.......first off the sheet was Dee, toilet bound and then Ryan followed, looking shattered. Claire after nearly drowning, decided enough was enough "I'm cold" she exclaimed....as she tried to release herself from her survival bag and 3 times falling backwards on to her bum. Eventually she managed to drag herself and her gear off towards the marquee in the distance to try and warm up.

So it was down to Mike and myself, but Mike soon folded and after a lame excuse about needing the toilet, it was left to the old man of the team to be left laying his bag and starting to feel wet? That was because as soon as everyone got up the puddles on the sheet started to relocate and I found that now my shoulders were in the water - my jacket was fast becoming a sponge! While still trying to tough it out I got a wee visit from Claire, who asked me, "why aren't we going home"..... because I'm still trying to kip Claire, that's why!

I lifted my head, rain still falling and looked around the field, people were now getting up and moving about, so it was my turn to vacate the premises. I got out of my bag and stepped in to my Merrills, only to find I was now standing in a giant puddle - feet are now wet through................. and it's still raining.

We packed up, the team had a coffee and a bun and we said our goodbyes. Made our way to the car park some distance off and all slumped in to the car - putting the heating to full blast and cranked up the sounds of Madness, Baggy Trousers ..... it's was nearly 7am.

Did we have fun........maybe too strong a word, but we got to share an experience together that the 5 of us will be able to talk about in years to come. We did it and we got wet, very wet and yet, we still did it!

When I got home, i showered, had a hot breakfast, brushed my teeth and jumped under my duvet - I was exhausted. How does someone homeless, with absolutely no where to turn, no friends to help, more tired than i could ever imagine, just do the basic's to get through their day? They don't have an address, so they can't get a job, how do they earn enough to get back on the ladder? Just then my youngest daughter of 10 came to me and looking beautiful in her jazzy clothes, she asked me "how did it go last night daddy?" She told me she was off to a friends birthday party and having a sleepover - she left and I cried (the more i thought, the more I cried). It made me think how lucky my famliy and I actually are, because my kids are not going to be on a street tonight, wrapped in cardboard. They are not going to face the day without food or sleep, without warmth and most importantly without friends to call on when they need help.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has helped my Bright Purple Noses to reach the financial target we set ourselves and we couldn't have done it without your wonderful support (read all the comments, you'll get the picture). We will be keeping the page open for donations and we might do some other events to keep the money rolling in.

Finally I would like too offer a very big thanks to 4 very special people, who I am proud to know as my colleagues and 'my friends', Claire Webster, Dee Tears, Ryan Lynch and Mike Leeman, without them there would have been no Bright Purple Noses. They worked hard to raise money, they battled the elements on the night, they laughed, they got wet and they definitely got very cold, but they did it - congratulations to each of you, you are all great characters.

 

Nick Price

MD Bright Purple Resourcing Limited

 

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27th September 09 UPDATE EVENT _

Bright Purple Byte Night Football 7's Tournament 2009 - Took place on Sunday 27th September

Big success today and made possible by some very generous people who turned out to play football at the fantastic venue of Stewart Melville College in Edinburgh, to help the Bright Purple Noses reach their goal for homeless kids. We raised £907 today to add to our total! That's before we then look to auction off all our wonderful gifts that were donated to our cause, watch out for an announcement on that - EBAY maybe?

Another friend of Bright Purple's turned up to watch the games and that was Andy Hook, Director of Football for the Homeless World Cup and Andy had just returned from Milan where he was part of the organising committee for this years world cup. Watch out for further Bright Purple involvement with Andy and his team moving forward. We thank Andy for coming along and supporting us!

Finally 11 teams eventually took to the field and battled it out over the afternoon, under grey but dry Edinburgh sky's. The games were close and the scoring proved difficult for some, there was the usual diving trying to con the ref and some tough tackles were flying about, but it was all conducted in the best spirit possible.

Out of the group stages we moved to two semi finals, the first between, Royal Bank and JP Morgan and in the second semi final, Robert Wiseman Dairies took on Martin Currie and both turned out to be extremely close encounters! JP Morgan eventually beat RBS 1:0 to progress to the final, while it was a similar score line in the other game, with Robert Wiseman's coming out on top.

The final was a very tense affair and hard fought by two very good footballing sides. In the end JP Morgan just had a little too much in the tank for Robert Wiseman's and ran out 2:0 winners and so the first Bright Purple Byte Night 2009 Champions, are our West Coast friends at JP Morgan.

The prize giving was made by Scotland rugby legend Gaving Hastings, who while maybe not knowing a lot about football, certainly knows a lot about commitment to the jersey and I think he was happy with seeing just how much commitment was given by all 11 teams today - FANTASTIC! Gavin, cheers mate for taking time out of your busy schedule, even on a Sunday he told me he was so busy having to walk his dog and hang out with the in-laws, life's tough Gav. But sincere thanks to Gavin, I know I owe you one for this - call me!

Also big thanks to the 'Girls of Bright Purple' who worked so hard today and deserve much praise for their efforts to hold on to the scoreboard when the wind blew! They also baked some lovely cakes to sell!! The team were Dee Tears, Amanda Jeffrey, Judit Czobor and Claire Webster, without whom it would not have been such a success - cheers ladies!

Also a very big thank you to the Stewart Melville's for the use of the great pitches and all the facilities, it was very generous of you and we hope to repay the favour some day soon. Thank you to Ally, Ewan and Fraser for allowing us to invade your arena - plus a special mention to the staff  on the day - all wonderful.

Finally a special mention to all of the 7's teams who took part - thanks for helping Bright Purple make this happen. We'll be seeing you soon again and watch this space for the next round of 7's - JP Morgan, I think there are quite a few teams who would like another shot at you and the trophy!!

Champions - JP Morgan, Runners Up - Wiseman Diaries. Top Goal Scorer - David Gilchrist, Wiseman Dairies and finally Top Goalkeeper, Graham Mason "no goals conceeded the whole tournament!" Well done to you all.

Best wishes,

Nick Price

Managing Director at Bright Purple

 

____________________So here's the rest of the story below, read on..............

 

We all have children or we know friends and relatives with children, in fact we were all children once upon a time!

These days many of us probably don't worry about what it's like being homeless or being a child faced with sleeping rough and the threats they face every night in doing so. Did you know that last year 75,000 UK children or youngsters faced homelessness. Many of these kids face boughts of depression, some even decide that suicide is their only way out. While this dark side of life goes on around us, we are wrapped up in our warm bed, cozy in the fact that we have our 4 walls to protect us and our biggest nightmare, well maybe the fact that the mother-in-law is visiting next week!

That's when Byte Night came along and woke us up!

The Bright Purple Noses team from the Scottish recruitment company Bright Purple Resourcing, decided to get involved in a fund raising event that aims to help some of these youngsters, through Action for Children. It all started 11 years ago, when 30 individuals from the IT industry slept out and raised £35,000, a great achievement in itself. However by 2008 the event had grown to 500 sleepers, raising £470,000 and even in the depth of recession, that number is growing again in 2009. Bright Purple are proud to be associated with helping Action for Children and we need you to help us reach our goal of £2500 - although we'd like to go higher if we can!

 

Bright Purple is a people business and over the many years the firm has helped secure contractor and permanent roles for a large variety of IT professionals across the UK and Internationally, from developers and project managers to senior partners and executives. We hope that our efforts over the years will in turn be rewarded and that you will find a way to help us reach our goal.

 

Every penny counts and so please consider giving what you can, because your generosity will make a huge difference to a child's life. We hope to organise one or two events prior to the big sleep out and we'll use our page to keep you updated and we will look to continue to find projects to keep helping children in need after Byte Night 2009 is finished.

Thanks to you all of you who are helping us, from the very grateful...........

 

Bright Purple Noses

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