Update as at 2200 Tuesday 11 November. £17,575 raised towards the £18,000 target!

On Remembrance Sunday, His Majesty The King led the nation in remembering those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Today, Armistice Day, at the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month, the four nations of the United Kingdom fell silent for two minutes to mark the end of the First World War.

It is right that we remember the fallen, and we must also remember those veterans with us now who still suffer trauma from recent conflict.

So, in three days time, on Friday 14 November, I shall be bedding down underneath a rainy sky at Stonehenge as part of The BIG Sleep to help raise funds for Alabaré to support homeless veterans, to help break that awful cycle of homelessness.

The weather will not be great, but for us sleeping out it will be for one night only, unlike the homeless. At dawn at Stonehenge on Saturday 15 November, wearing our poppies, we shall mark the annual Remembrance events of this week with a silence and the Exhortation:

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old,

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,

We will remember them."

My back story is below, but today, thanks to the amazing generosity of friends, colleagues and family from the Shrievalty, fellow veterans and military chums, old school chums, trusts, charities, and clubs, Livery Companies, investment companies, businesses, corporates, and many others, my initial target of £10K has been smashed, as has been the revised £14K target, and I now hope to crack £18K.......

The amount donated now stands at a staggering £17,575.00, with three days to go. I am so very grateful to everyone - thank you.

Back Story

On Friday 5 March 2021 I slept out on top of a hill in SE Wales to raise funds to support homeless veterans. I was partnered by Alabaré, a charity that supports homeless veterans and for which I am an ambassador in Wales. Thanks to the generosity of family, friends, and colleagues I raised over £8.6K which went to support homeless veterans in Wales in Alabaré's Homes for Veterans Cymru.

It is time to do it again.

It is an indictment on our society that there still remain many homeless veterans in the UK, veterans who served to keep our society safe. So, I'm having another crack and aspire to raise £10K. Until 18 September, the plan was to sleep out overnight on 10 October in the garden of St Paul's Cathedral. However, I have been advised by Alabaré that circumstances have changed and that the BIG Sleep will transfer to STONEHENGE on 14 November. Almost certainly, that will be a more chilly, windy, and perhaps wet challenge....!

I and many other participants on 14 November are also veterans. It will be our small act of compassion to help break the cycle of homeless for veterans. However, after what may be an uncomfortable, cold, and maybe wet night, we shall return to our warm homes.

All the funds raised on Friday 14 November will directly support Alabaré's work with homeless veterans across SW England and Wales, helping them off the streets and into Alabaré's homes for veterans. Beyond providing shelter, Alabaré offers tailored support in employment, training, and education to help veterans rebuild their lives and live independently. Alabaré's homes for veterans are more than shelter — they are places of healing, growth, and hope.

To all those lovely, kind people who have already generously supported me, thank you so much. I am aware there are others in the pipeline and I look forward to that support.