A Clapham man exchanged his bed for the pavement on Saturday night to raise money for street dwellers in India.
Angus Kirk, 36, who lives on Clapham Common Northside was one of 20 people from around the country taking part in the Big Street Sleep in Hampstead to raise money for the work of Calcutta Rescue.
In addition to raising money from sponsorship, the charity, which runs medical clinics, schools and other projects for slum dwellers, wanted to highlight the plight of the poorest of the poor in Kolkata.
Mr Kirk, who is a solicitor working in international development, spent six months working as a volunteer for the charity in Kolkata in 1994.
Since returning home he has helped run the charity’s UK support group, Calcutta Rescue Fund.
Mr Kirk said: “I slept amazingly well despite the passing traffic, the drops of rain, the attentions of a passing fox and the unpredictable paths of a number of Hampstead revellers.
"There is of course an enormous difference between one night on the street in London and a lifetime of living and sleeping on the streets of Kolkata with no available escape route.
"It seemed a fitting way to seek to raise much needed funding for Calcutta Rescue.”
Calcutta Rescue, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, was set up by a British doctor, Jack Preger, and last year helped 100,000 street people in a wide variety of ways.
To find out more about the charity, which depends almost entirely on donations from the public, go to calcuttarescue.org.uk.
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