The glamorous life of a PPC: a sleeping bag, a cardboard box and a mug of soup

By Ruth Smeeth / @RuthSmeeth

For those of you that have met me, you’ll know that I am a Burton related bore. I love the town, the community and I am proud to be their Labour PPC. For me, the best thing about being a candidate is getting to know the people, who do really amazing things for the local community, from running the local Royal British Legion to volunteering at community events – like the recent fireworks displays.

One of the biggest projects in Burton, initiated by volunteers from the local churches, has been a temporary homeless shelter run over the last four years. The shelter was initially staffed only by volunteers, and provided a safe place to sleep and a hot meal over the winter months. Over the last four years, dozens of the most vulnerable people in Burton and the surrounding area have been helped – both into more permanent housing and with social and practical issues.

Such was the demand on both the temporary shelter and the volunteers that it quickly became evident that we needed a more permanent facility which could work with local homeless people in a safe environment and which was open 24-7, 365 days a year. Whilst this created a political debate locally (and for the record the Labour Party supported this initiative from day 1) earlier this year the YMCA received planning permission for a new building.

So in order to support the project and all those people who have given their time and energy over the last four years, tomorrow (Friday 13th!) I will be joining a team of local community activists and will be sleeping rough for the night. 10 hours in the cold and (according to the Met Office) wet, with a cardboard box and a sleeping bag.

So please take pity on me, dig deep, support a fantastic cause and I promise pictures, tweets and Facebook updates to show I really did sleep rough for an incredibly deserving charity.

Please sponsor me at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RuthSmeeth.