HUNDREDS of residents will join the Mayor and take part in a sponsored sleep out in St Albans Abbey tonight to illustrate life on the streets.

The annual event, now in its 15th year, will see the abbey precinct transformed into an open air dormitory allowing all participants to experience life as a homeless person forced to spend nights in the cold.

Also getting their woolly mitts and ear muffs ready for the occasion will be St Albans Mayor Chris Oxley and the deputy mayor, Councillor M Iqbal Zia.

Councillor Oxley said: “It is great for those of us who do have a regular roof over our heads and a warm home; it is difficult to imagine the discomfort for those who do not have regular basic shelter."

Organisers are hoping to beat last year's sponsorship total of £36,000 for the mayor's charity Open Door, which provides emergency shelter for people on the streets and Centre 33, a drop-in centre for the homeless.

The generous donation will be particularly welcomed by Open Door, which is currently undergoing a refurbishment, costing in the region of £825,000.

Other charities to benefit from the sleep out include Dacorum Emergency Night Shelter, Watford New Hope Trust, Luton Accommodation and Move-On Project and Leighton Linslade Homeless Service.

For further information or to book your place, please visit the website http://www.stalbans.anglican.org/Mission/Poverty-and-Homelessness/Sleepout If you have any queries contact Val Geldard on 01727 851748 or email sleepout@stalbans.anglican.org.