Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to our volunteers, donors, partners and supporters. We thank you for your unwavering support, kindness and generosity. We hope everyone is able to spend time together safely with their family and friends and be reminded that we are never alone. Wishing you and your family health, happiness, peace and prosperity this Christmas and in the coming New Year.

Robes SleepIn 2020

Thank you so much for making this year’s Southwark Cathedral Sponsored SleepIn 2020 possible. Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, we have raised £50,000! We are very grateful for your support.

We have had an amazing turnout, with 100 people collectively joining in on the night. More than 1,300 people have viewed the recorded SleepIn event via Facebook and YouTube. This is simply incredible!

You are still able to donate until the 31st of January 2021 and help us reach our goal of raising £126,107 in its 10th year. You can donate via our JustGiving page by clicking here.

We also wanted to take a moment to especially thank Maggie Still (Chairperson of the SleepIn committee) for organizing the event, Andrew Nunn, members of the SleepIn committee, and Southwark Cathedral for hosting the event. Thank you to Bishop Christopher Chessun, Shalom Chorale, Jay Flynn, Eve Milner, Trisha Shannon, Giles Goodard, Eileen Hamilton, Edward Parry and family, George Martin and Jeremy Metson.

SleepOut 2021 Registration is now open! You can register for our 2021 SleepOut by clicking here.

Goodbye from our Chair of Trustees: George Martin

In a few days, I will be stepping down as Chair and Southwark Cathedral Trustee of Robes having been involved since the project started in 2007. First of all, I would like to thank the Manna Centre for their financial contribution over the first three years when we started at Robes, we virtually had no money, this financial support enabled us to employ a Project Coordinator on a fixed contract for 6 months and to buy basic bedding such as lilos from Poundland and also a puncture kit as the lilos were always deflating.

Robes is indebted to the late Marion Marples who was one of the small team who set about a plan with churches so that the Robes winter night shelter could be launched in Jan 2007. Marion also wrote the constitution which was submitted to the charity commission. The constitution had to be amended many times before it was approved in 2010.

2010 was the first ever sponsored Sleepout. A special thanks must go to Mandy Sturrock who came up with the idea when talking to me on the Walk of Witness on Good Friday 2010 in Southwark. Mandy had been living in St. Albans and had recently moved to London. St Albans Abbey had evidently done Sleepout over several years. With this in mind, we both went to see Andrew Nunn at Southwark Cathedral putting this idea to him and in a short time approval was given. The first-ever Sleepout in 2010 raised over £62,000. The Sleepout has been the financial backbone of Robes for over 9 years and has raised over £875,000.

Louise Delaye a former trustee and I visited several years ago the Camden Church run Night shelter and learnt they had a Friday club as an open door for rough sleepers as a drop-in centre offering food and advice. Louise and I talked to the Robes board and decided we should do the same and started the Wednesday club but now a Tuesday club at Holy Trinity Church in Clapham and now due to Covid operates takeaways for over 50- guests.

Nine years on Robes now has 31 host churches backed by 750 volunteers and is the second largest Church run winter night shelter in London. I would like to thank our amazing volunteers and the 31 churches involved who without them we could not operate. I would also like to the thank the trusts, livery and corporate companies and other funders for their financial support over the years.

I am extremely grateful to Andrew Nunn Dean of Southwark Cathedral for giving Robes all his support and the rest of the team at Southwark Cathedral and for hosting annually the Sleepout.

I am very proud of what Robes has achieved over the last thirteen years and being Chair of the Trustees and trustee has dominated my life over these years and Robes is now a much respected charity in the Borough of Southwark and Lambeth and shows the human face of the church in its outreach to the homelessness in our City. I am delighted to welcome my successor Paul Venning who has not been involved in the charity as I felt Robes needed a fresh pair of eyes to take the Charity to the next stage and in helping the project move forward. I wish Paul, the Trustees, and the Staff every success for the challenging times ahead.

With every blessing,

George Martin

Looking for 2 x Community Fundraising Volunteers

Our volunteers are at the heart of everything we do and we are looking for 2 community fundraising volunteers to join our fundraising committee. The successful individual will help develop local strategies and plans to secure increased funding and inspire supporters to get involved in fundraising.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. No deadline.

If you are interested please click here to learn more and how to apply.