On Monday 12 October I will be sleeping outside overnight on the grass of the Oval Cricket Ground in London with other people from the business community.

We need to raise vital funds for the Cardinal Hume Centre (www.cardinalhumecentre.org.uk) in central London.  Basil Hume, a priest, was my teacher and mentor at school in Yorkshire in the 1970s. He later became Archbishop of Westminster, and then Cardinal. When he first moved to London, he found many homeless children and young people living outside his own church.

He responded by converting a convent in Victoria into a homeless centre for people aged between 16-24. Today it has residential places for 32 homeless young people to help them re-establish their lives and to find work and accommodation. Last year 1,700 marginalised people came to the centre looking for help, advice and support. None were turned away.

Although sleeping out for one night does not compare to what these young people have to face every day, we hope this act of solidarity will highlight the issue of homelessness amongst the young, and raise funds for the Centre. I’m sure you will agree with me that homelessness among the young should not exist in a developed economy like ours.

While I have played cricket at the Oval before, I have never slept there!

Please give generously.