LEEK United Building Society staff are set to brave freezing temperatures when they join football fans for a special ‘sleepover’ to help highlight the plight of North Staffordshire’s homeless.

The colleagues are teaming up to take part in Stoke City Community Trust’s ‘Big Sleep-Out’ on the floor of a cold concrete concourse building at Stoke City’s bet365 Stadium on Friday, 1st February.

Now in its fourth year, the event is designed to give participants first-hand experience of what it’s like to brave the elements overnight – and raise much-needed funds for local homeless charities in the process.

Leek United is an associate partner of the Community Trust and a sponsor of The Big Sleep-Out, which members of staff have also taken part in during previous years.

This year, the Society’s Head of Branch Network Simon Round is being joined by:

Laura Allcock (Market Drayton branch), Emma Bogdanski (Head Office), Rachel Jones (Hanley branch), Michelle Prince and Laura Whitworth (both from Uttoxeter branch).

Simon said: “As a mortgage lender, we help people to buy homes; by taking part in The Big Sleep Out, we want to help people for whom a home of their own – and, sadly, sometimes even a roof over their heads – is very often out of reach.”

Together with scores of Stoke City supporters, the Leek United team will spend the night huddled in sleeping bags in the bet365 Stadium’s Franklyn Stand concourse.

The Community Trust is providing everyone taking part with a cardboard mat to sleep on; hot soup and drinks are also available for them throughout the night, with a hot bap at breakfast time.

Each participant is asked to raise a minimum of £100, with all proceeds being donated to local homeless charities, including: The Macari Centre in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent; Manna House Hanley, a homeless drop-in based at Hanley Baptist Church; and the Temple Street Night Shelter in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent.

Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so by visiting: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/sleepout2019/475392

Adrian Hurst, Head of Stoke City Community Trust, said: “The ‘Big Sleep Out’ is heavily supported by many businesses around Staffordshire. We are proud to have a relationship with those businesses that want to support all of the fundraising events we do.

“We thank the staff at Leek United, who have supported us every year, and hope that they continue to do so in the future.”