Staff at a care facility in Bradway will be swapping their beds for sleeping bags to raise funds for veterans.

Outram Fields Care Home will host an outdoor sleepout on 11 March to raise money for the Royal British Legion.

Last year they took part in The Great Tommy Sleepout, an initiative started by the Royal British Veterans Enterprise to raise awareness for an estimated 6,000 veterans who sleep rough.

Outram Fields admissions officer, Claire Hoyles, took part in the sleep out last year and will again this year.

She said: “We had sleeping bags and some of us slept better than others, some people snoring, some people couldn’t get to sleep, you could actually hear the train station down the road.”

Ms Hoyles said they took part to try to see what homeless people go through, and when speaking with their local Royal British Legion branch Frecheville, they realised they should probably be raising funds for them directly to support veterans in the Sheffield area.

The fundraiser is aiming to raise £450 for the Frenchville branch, to continue their important work such as helping homelessness, but the money raised will also go towards other causes such as supporting those in the area with problems at home.

Chairman of the Frenchville and District Royal British Legion Branch, Alan Walker, said: “It’s extremely important, we are doing fundraising most of the time for various different things.

“Last year we had 26 different events throughout the year where we were fundraising for the poppy appeal, but we fundraised for numerous different things.

“It’s fundamental for the Royal British Legion, and the work that we do for veterans of all ages, not just veterans, but serving members as well.”

Ellice Osborne, also an admissions officer at the home, is taking part in the sleepout for the first time, and said: “I’m really looking forward to it. It’s such a good cause what we’re doing it for and it’s going to be very rewarding.

“I think it’s going to be a very nice team-building. It’s a bigger group than last year.”

To support the Frenchville and District Royal British Legion follow this link to the online fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-outram-fields-terrace-sleep-out-for-local-veterans