Stories from St Martin's
Post categories: St Martin's, appeal, charity, homeless
11:08, Thursday, 3 December 2009
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At 0800 every day (0900 on Saturday) you'll find a small group of people at morning prayer in the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields at Charing Cross.
Amongst the worshippers you'll see homeless men and women from The Connection at St Martin's, an independent homeless charity operating on the site of St Martin-in-the-Fields Church. They offer practical advice, care and support to homeless people from all over the country, of all ages and all walks of life. This year alone over 5,000 homeless people accessed their services.
The poem in the slideshow above was written by Jamie, a young homeless man who's a member of The Connection's writing group.
And in this recording, you'll hear the Vicar of St Martin's talking about his preparation for the annual appeal and how he turns to the regulars at morning prayer for stories to use in the appeal programme itself - like Ben the gambler and the silent, angry man who can't bring himself to talk to anyone:
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Sally Flatman is Producer of the BBC Radio 4 St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal
- Make a donation to the BBC Radio 4 St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal, supporting work with homeless and vulnerable people across the UK.
- Listen to the 83rd Annual BBC Radio 4 St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal this Sunday at 0755. Later that morning Libby Purves reports on how the money from last year's Christmas Appeal has been spent in Received with Thanks at 0945.
- More information at the St Martin's web site and The Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields web site.
- Click the 'embed' button on the slideshow or the Vicar's audio to put them on your own web site. The slideshow is also on YouTube. Read the text of the recording.
- The Radio 4 appeal has a Wikipedia entry, which also covers the Christmas appeal.
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