On the 18th October 2025, I shall be taking part in The YMCA Bournemouth's BIG Sleep Easy 2025 and "Sleeping Rough to support those finding it tough."

I along with many others, will be building a shelter out of cardboard boxes / masking tape and sleeping under the stars for one night - emulating what many thousands of people that are homeless do in the UK - night after night.

YMCA Bournemouth provide short term accommodation for people that have been sleeping rough. They provide them with care and support to enable them to take on long term secure accommodation.

I am raising funds for them to continue to provide this essential service to some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Please make a donation so that we can help them to help others.

Why are we doing this? As a seasoned disability rights campaigner regarding accessibility in healthcare, with lived experience as a wheelchair user, I also like to champion the need for more wheelchair accessible housing. This relates to both the social, and private, housing sectors. This will be the third year in a row for myself and my husband Mike to take part in this event.

Every type of body deserves to feel safe, with a roof over their heads and food on the table – disabled and non-disabled alike. I have been within a whisker of being homeless myself four times. On each of those occasions it was due to having an extremely low income, due to a combination of disabilities and caring responsibilities. The lack of wheelchair accessible housing was also a BIG factor.

Why we are supporting this YMCA Bournemouth event? It’s really important to both of us to support our local community whenever we can. We’re spending a cold October night outside, me sleeping in my wheelchair, and Mike sleeping on the ground. It’s cold and uncomfortable, and usually at around 3 am we start to question our sanity. That’s how we’re doing our bit.

You can do your bit, from the comfort of your own home, and support this very worthy cause by donating some money. Whatever amount you can will help the cause, and it will keep our spirits up during the 3 am “slump”.

About Lorraine and Mike: Lorraine and Mike Stanley, Co-Founders of local not-for-profit training organisation SWAD, have known each other for over 15 years, having met in a jacuzzi! They got married just before last year’s YMCA Bournemouth's BIG Sleep Easy event, and honeymooned in a cardboard box a.k.a. “The Honeymoon Suite”. This year they celebrate their first wedding anniversary in a very similar cardboard box!