Leeds boy, 13, sleeps in tent for a year for homeless charity

Billy has vowed to continue his fundraising mission

A 13-year-old boy has slept in a tent in his garden for more than a year to raise funds for a homelessness charity.

Billy, from Pudsey, started sleeping outside to prove a point, after complaints that he was not making use of a tent he received for his birthday.

But after finding it "quite nice" he carried on - and then decided to combine it with helping others in need.

He has so far raised nearly £1,500 for Emmaus, and plans to keep sleeping in his tent despite the bad weather.

Billy said: "If it helps someone it should be done."

Billy's mother bought him the tent for his 10th birthday and was cross that he never used it, he said, so he decided to sleep out one night.

He continued: "I did it again and again and got quite into my habits of doing things and it just continued for over a year.

"My parents suggested I could raise money and I thought it was a great idea so I chose the homeless charity Emmaus because it offers continuous support."

Asked how it felt to have raised so much money, Billy said: "Amazing... and most of it over the past few days has been from people I don't know but who want to help me."

Billy also wants to "beat the other boy in a tent".

His aim is to beat three years of sleeping outside

Max Woosey, also 13, set the Guinness World Record for charity camp-outs by sleeping in a tent for three years. The youngster, from Braunton, Devon, raised more than £750,000.

Billy said: "My goal is to get to four years, about year 11, to beat him."

Aside from strange rustlings in the garden, Billy, who is on his third tent, said the thing he missed most about his bedroom was the silence.

He said: "The constantly chirping birds are the most annoying."

Billy said the thing he misses the most about his bedroom is the silence

Billy does not think that sleeping outside long-term will impact his school work because it will become "as normal to him as sleeping in a bed".

Billy's father Simon Thompson said the family were "really proud" of Billy for "sticking with it" but there was no pressure to continue if he did not want to.

Mr Thompson said: "He sees things through to the end and that's really important. It feels nice he's getting recognition but we want the charity to get as many donations as it can."

He added: "He doesn't live in the garden, he still comes in for his breakfast!"