As we snuggled deeper into our safe, warm, dry downies on Saturday night, Adam Murphy, Caerlaverock’s own SNH Reserve Officer slept out overnight, with nothing but a sleeping bag and survival bag, in Glasgow to raise funds, and awareness for the charity Social Bite. He promised he’d send us an update – here it is! With a very important message.
Well done Adam!
A MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone who sponsored and supported me for my Sleep in the Park Event. I’ve raised £719.50 so far (over £850 including gift aid).
On Saturday night I braved the cold weather, and headed up to Glasgow to spend the night in Kelvingrove Park as part of a national sleep out event to raise funds for homeless charity, Social Bite. After listening to inspiring speakers and amazing buskers, I managed to sleep from midnight till 5:15am when event organisers woke us up and turfed us out of the park as temperatures had dropped to 2°C and the puddles from the night before had started to freeze over.
Having no where to go at 5:30am in the middle of Glasgow city centre on a Sunday morning with 3 hours before sun rise and 4 hours before the first bus back to Dumfries was an interesting experience. Especially having slept rough the night before and now wandering around with a sleeping bag and looking disheveled with my long hair (which I’m growing for another charitable cause) and beard probably made me look “typically homeless”. It’s interesting how people look at you or don’t look at you, as the case seemed to be, when they think you’re living on the streets.
I did manage to find a 24hour fast food outlet and had a well earned bacon roll and cup of tea, I also managed to give my survival bag and poncho to a genuine homeless person.
One thing I learned for my one night rough sleeping and listening to the stories of homeless people in Glasgow is that if you can’t give them food or a hot drink, at least acknowledge them as a human being, even just a simple smile goes a long way. You don’t know what circumstances have befallen them, so don’t judge, or even worse, don’t pretend they are invisible.
Leave A Comment