Sleeping bags and radios handed out to Brighton homeless

The bags and the sets were handed out by Gatwick-based radio engineering business ATDI. The company works with organisations from emergency services to mobile phone operators to ensure radio systems do their job, even when several networks are operating in the same place.

Managing director Sarah Byrne said: “Every day, ATDI sees the value of radio in all its applications for pretty much the whole of society. The one part of society excluded from that is rough sleepers so we wanted to do what we could to bring them some of the benefits and pleasures the rest of us get from radio communications.

“The value of the sleeping bags is obvious. It isn’t too dramatic to say that good-quality bags like these save lives.”

The sleeping bags were given to Brighton charity Anti-Freeze.

Manager Steve Bunton said: “Sleeping bags can provide life-saving support for the homeless. We and the clients are very grateful.

The radios were distributed throughout Brighton and Hove by Brighton-based independent charity The Thunor Trust.

Chief volunteer Ella Bunce said: “It’s very easy to forget just how boring it is when you spend your life on the streets. Most of us have a world of entertainment at home but when you have no home, your entertainment opportunities are reduced to pretty much zero. These wind-up radios will go a long way to increasing that, as the delighted responses from rough sleepers have already shown us.”