Doncaster firefighter's rough-sleep month for homeless veterans

A firefighter plans to sleep outside for the whole of March in an effort to raise money for homeless veterans.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue station manager Gary Devonport, 40, said he hoped to raise £3,000 for the Royal British Legion Industries charity, while also raising awareness of the problems veterans faced when they left the Army.

Mr Devonport said his experiences in the armed forces and supporting the veteran community in the fire service had inspired the challenge.

"The original plan was for one night, but I thought to raise as much money as I could it had to be some sort of a challenge. So I decided to do it for a month - and with no tent as well," he explained.

Mr Devonport said his challenge was part of The Great Tommy Sleep Out, a national fundraising challenge designed to support homeless veterans experiencing homelessness in the UK.

He said he would spend most nights in March in a sleeping bag under tarpaulin in his garden.

"I will use an old school military basha, which is essentially a bit like a tarpaulin that you normally span from a couple of trees, but it might be a garden fence," he said.

Mr Devonport served in the armed forces for six years between 2001 and 2007 before becoming a firefighter.

"I loved my time in the military. It just kind of came to a natural end and I needed something for me that was similar in terms of discipline, structure and meaning," he said.

"I think it's quite important to be a part of something. So, for me, leaving the military, I was always going to try to be in a uniform service because I saw the natural similarities between them both."

Mr Devonport, who works with South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue's Armed Forces Network supporting other veterans, said soldiers were "notoriously terrible at asking for help".

"That's why some find their way on to the streets, because it's not normally first nature to ask people for support," he said.

"We've seen a boom in general homelessness anyway, in the last sort of 10 years. You only have to go to London and look in most alleyways to see there's quite a lot of homelessness."