Spend a night at the King Power Stadium in 'unforgettable' rough sleeping event

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/spend-night-king-power-stadium-9960853

 

The initiative aims aims to combat youth homelessness

ByTom MackSenior Reporter
04:00, 21 FEB 2025

An "unforgettable" experience is on offer to Leicester football fans, business leaders and anyone who wants to raise money for a good cause next month. That's because the King Power Stadium is set to host this year's annual rough sleeping event, with people now urged to take part and raise money through sponsorship for YMCA Leicestershire.

The night of the rough sleep will include a tour of the Leicester City FC stadium and a hot drink and breakfast roll the following morning. YMCA Leicestershire, which supports homeless people in the county, described the event as an "unforgettable one-night experience" that would raise awareness as well as money to combat youth homelessness.

Paul Brown, chief executive of YMCA Leicestershire, said: “The generosity of our community is what allows us to continue making life-changing differences. Every pound raised at Sleep Easy 2025 will give young people the support they need to rebuild their lives.

 

Participants at the 2023 event (Image: CEO Sleepout)
"We’re incredibly grateful to CEO Susan Whelan and everyone at Leicester City Football Club for their partnership in making this event possible - it’s a chance for everyone to come together and take a stand against youth homelessness.”

Mr Brown said that by spending a night on the cold concrete floor of Leicester’s football stadium, those taking part would experience just a fraction of the daily hardships faced by those without a roof over their head. Those already signed up include several individuals, teams from work and the president of The Leicestershire Law Society, Greg Hollingsworth.

Those taking part in last year's event at the Leicester City ground included Simon Hatchman, a director at PA Housing. He said: "I wanted to personally experience rough sleeping for a night to gain more of an appreciation of what people are going through on our streets. It was a more gruelling and painful experience than I was expecting."

YMCA Leicestershire’s Sleep Easy event first took place in 2023 and has raised more than £45,000 since then. YMCA Leicestershire has been supporting young people in the county for more than 140 years.

This year's Sleep Easy 2025 event will take place on the night of Wednesday, March 19. To register for the event, which costs £20, visit the YMCA Leicestershire website.

[SeCrEt FoX]

We've all been rough sleeping there for months anyway 

[CosbehFox]

Yep, increasingly likely I might be doing this 😂😂😂

[AKCJ]

Big week for the KPFC comms team.

[Gravel]

Is this different to rough sleepwalking?

[dillonpanthers87]

Tom Mack and the Mercury taking a break from reviewing burgers and kebabs across the city in the form of local news...

[CosbehFox]

10 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Big week for the KPFC comms team.

It’s a Mercury article and it’s been planned for about six months. Has been ran consecutively for a number of years. 

 

Edited 21 February by CosbehFox

[Claudio Fannieri]

Can you leave 10 minutes early? 

[filbertway]

2 hours ago, CosbehFox said:

It’s a Mercury article and it’s been planned for about six months. Has been ran consecutively for a number of years. 

 

The big thanks to Susan Whelan made me laugh.

 

I know this is something that happens every year, but the cynic in me thinks that the announcement timing and fact that Big Suze gets a massive shoutout is more than a coincidence

 

[CosbehFox]

Just now, filbertway said:

The big thanks to Susan Whelan made me laugh.

 

I know this is something that happens every year, but the cynic in me thinks that the announcement timing and fact that Big Suze gets a massive shoutout is more than a coincidence

 

To be fair, the quote is from the head of YMCA and I would assume they just want to biggest platform for these events. 

 

The Trust were asked back in January if they wanted to provide any support. 

 

On a wider point, I do wonder at what point the club would lose the cynicism (strongly deserved in most cases) because a takeover etc takes time and the personnel which are involved with these sort of events (largely LCFC In The Community here) are not going to change overnight. Particularly when it comes to community causes because the people who really benefit from this are generally those a lot less fortunate. 

[Finnegan]

17 minutes ago, filbertway said:

The big thanks to Susan Whelan made me laugh.

 

I know this is something that happens every year, but the cynic in me thinks that the announcement timing and fact that Big Suze gets a massive shoutout is more than a coincidence

 

 

I think this is the point you start taking general frustration and distrust for the board a tad too far. 

[sylofox]

More than likely get trown out and life ban for farming in bed.

[filbertway]

10 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

To be fair, the quote is from the head of YMCA and I would assume they just want to biggest platform for these events. 

 

The Trust were asked back in January if they wanted to provide any support. 

 

On a wider point, I do wonder at what point the club would lose the cynicism (strongly deserved in most cases) because a takeover etc takes time and the personnel which are involved with these sort of events (largely LCFC In The Community here) are not going to change overnight. Particularly when it comes to community causes because the people who really benefit from this are generally those a lot less fortunate. 

I think consistently doing good things and not alienating the fan base on an almost weekly basis would help.

 

Anyway I don't want to detract from what is a worthy cause so I'll shut up about it in this thread

 

Massive respect to anyone that does this. I've passed out at festivals before I could get into my sleeping bag in the peak of summer and woke up shivering. Doing this in March takes some balls.

[Bert]

You can only go if you’ve got at least 1 home priority point  

[Daggers]

11 minutes ago, sylofox said:

More than likely get trown out and life ban for farming in bed.

You what now?

 

 

[Stuntman_Mike]

UFS members to be escorted out the ground for entering the pitch.

 

 

Edited 21 February by Stuntman_Mike

[StanSP]

1 hour ago, filbertway said:

I've passed out at festivals before I could get into my sleeping bag in the peak of summer and woke up shivering

Are you sure there aren't other factors at play here

[AjcW]

Will this make Gen Sale?

[HybridFox]

Did this last year, was bloody freezing and a challenge! But satisfying to say you did it and for a good cause. Was cool to walk around the ground with all the turnstiles open

Edited 21 February by HybridFox

[filbertway]

57 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Are you sure there aren't other factors at play here

 

 

The withdrawal symptoms kick in the week after the festival