00:00It's that time of year again when Royal British Veteran Enterprise volunteers and business owners
00:08take on the challenge of rough sleeping to raise money for a vital cause. The Great Tommy Sleepout
00:16has returned and many have gathered here at Detling Showground to spend the night in nothing
00:23but makeshift shelters. Many veterans from World War II and even today experienced rough sleeping
00:33like this and the Great Tommy Sleepout is all about raising awareness for the public to tackle
00:41the problem today. Many of the campers are ex-military and know what it's like to sleep
00:49under the stars almost every night. Obviously we had more provisions and stuff available to us but
00:56it gives you a sense of what military personnel actually go through on a daily basis and it's
01:03something to take away from everyone really. It sort of puts you in the shoes or the boot shall I
01:08say
01:08of military personnel both now and before and I believe that obviously if anyone can experience
01:15something like this it actually brings you closer to to what this is all about. From ever since you
01:21being a child being the boy playing in the woods locally in Wales to going on through my life
01:28experiences this has just always been a part of my life and I couldn't not turn this down
01:36and also yet again it's for a very good cause. To me it means so much it's it's what we
01:42stand for
01:43it's about supporting people who have served it's about the work that we do on our village to support
01:51veterans and it brings communities together so not only at events like this where people can come
01:57together but across the country people are sleeping out. We're anticipating that almost 20 000 people
02:04will be taking part in the campaign up and down the country and that might be events like this where
02:09they get together with their work colleagues or groups or they might be taking part on their own
02:14or with their families in their own back garden. So far over 700 000 pounds have been raised against
02:23a seven and a half hundred thousand pound target meaning support for veterans is still ongoing even during
02:32the darkest of nights. Henry Luck, the Cane TV, in Maidstone.
Comments