Rough sleepers help hundreds of Fleet teens

A hot water bottle, ski pants, and a tipple or two of mulled wine helped keep the freezing temperatures at bay when these hardy souls slept rough in Fleet, at the weekend.

The team of recently redundant local youth workers and volunteers spent the night under the entrance of The Hart Centre to highlight recent cutbacks to youth services which has effected hundreds of local teens.

 MP James Arbuthnot – seen in the photo second from the left - popped along to support the shivering fundraisers who have launched a new charity called Fleet Phoenix which hopes to fill the void created by the funding cuts.

"The main objective [of the new charity] is to support the young people of Fleet during their turbulent years," said Mike Collen, trustee of Fleet Phoenix.

"County funds have been severely restricted. These funds will not finance the excellent support offered by the Fleet team based from the Point Youth Centre who were made redundant in the cutbacks last month."

Charlotte Tickner, manager of the new charity, says there are currently some 350 vulnerable young people in Fleet needing their help.

"Everything," she said, "drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, sexual health, relationships, their families – anything that's relative to their lives."

Mr Arbuthnot MP said: "Charlotte asked me to come down here for a few hours and it's the least I could do.

"She and her team have done an enormous amount of valuable work for youth in Fleet and they need everyone's support now, more than ever."

The 'rough sleepers' collected money from passing partygoers during the evening as well as popping into bars and late-night establishments to rattle their collection boxes – and warm up for a moment or two.

They also handed out advice on sexual health including colourful sperm key rings.