Doncaster man sleeping rough to raise money and awareness of Royal British Legion Industries

Paul Priestley, aged 38, has given up the warmth and cosiness of his own bed, and all his home comforts, to spread the word about the Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI).

This all began last year, Paul picks up the story here: “I started doing The Great Tommy Sleepout for the RBLI last year, it’s a drive to raise awareness and sponsorships for homeless veterans where people spend a night or as many nights as they like under the stars during the month of March.

"I planned to do a couple nights over the weekends in the month of March, I did one and stayed out 168 straight.”

Paul has a number of locations where he puts his head down and cooks on a camp fire to get a real taste of what it is like to sleep rough.

He continued: “I do sleep at home sometimes but spend more outside, I’ve currently been out since mid October.

“I do all the RBLI challenges as well as setting my own. Like for Remembrance I did a challenge I call 11 in 11, 11 nights out, 11 locations, 11 ration packs, travelling a minimum of 11km a day.

"I always have one or more of my dogs with me and always have a thermal image camera to check the temperature, the coldest this year has been -6.”

But those temperature don’t faze Paul who’s now looking at staying outdoors until mid April.

If you can support Paul and the RBLI then please email [email protected] or the charity directly https://rbli.co.uk/