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When he’s not doing his day job as CEO of the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority, Tim Ringsdore can be found sleeping rough outside parish halls.
The 63-year-old charity champion, who last year walked every road in the island, has set himself a new fundraising challenge for 2023 after becoming a trustee of Sanctuary, which is Bailiwick Express and Connect Magazine's partner charity this year.
Abi Nance, Head of Fundraising and Communications at Sanctuary Trust, spoke to Tim about his 12 Parish Sleep Out, snoring and learning to unicycle...
I am spending one night each month sleeping outside a different parish hall to raise money and awareness for Sanctuary. While it sounds like a relatively straightforward fundraiser, it’s actually proving to be pretty tough!
Pictured: Tim is hoping to raise £12,000 for Sanctuary Trust by sleeping outside each of the 12 parish halls for one night each month.
Usually when you decide to do a challenge for charity, it’s something like mountain-climbing, marathon-running, or cycling big distances. This is a bit different. Spending 12 nights camping out, particularly in the colder months, is not very comfortable!
When I started to find out about Sanctuary Trust, I was surprised by the demand for the charity’s services and I wanted to help raise its profile in some way. Every year, Sanctuary hosts an annual sleep out fundraiser in Pier Road carpark and I thought the 12 Parish Sleep Out could expand on that. Hopefully by sleeping out in every parish and literally presenting the problem on the doorstep, so to speak, we will reach more islanders and start addressing homelessness as a community.
Tougher than I thought. In my younger days, I did quite a bit of camping, but not without a tent and certainly not just sleeping out at this time of the year. The cold was something else. Once you're in your sleeping bag, it is just about bearable, apart from when nature calls and you have to get out of bed at 2am or 3am - then it's very cold. Grouville was definitely tougher, as compared to St. Aubin’s Harbour it’s quite isolated. There also isn’t much cover so it was more exposed to the elements.
Pictured: Tim has completed two parishes so far: St Brelade and Grouville.
I’m only sleeping out for about eight hours though, which is a very short period of time compared to people who are actually sleeping on the streets, night after night. They don’t have the choice or anywhere to go afterwards, whereas I could go home, have a hot shower and go to bed for a couple of hours. It really brought home to me how exposed people are when they sleep rough.
Obviously a decent sleeping bag. We managed to put some insulation underneath our mats which offered some level of protection against the bitter cold coming up from the ground beneath us. We haven't really experienced too much bad weather so far, but we have a cover for the sleeping bags should it rain, to give us a bit of protection. What I do need to take with me for the next sleep outs is a decent pillow!
When we were outside St. Brelade’s Parish Hall, some of our residents from Sanctuary House popped by to see us and give us their support. They were so grateful for what we were doing, for the awareness and hopefully money we are raising, which was really humbling. A few people who passed by donated money. That really made me feel that we are shining a light on Jersey’s hidden homelessness problem. People don't like to talk about it, but there is a problem.
I wasn't expecting it, so it was great motivation. He said to me that he will join me from the St. Saviour Sleep Out in December, which will be my last one, finishing in my home parish. That really would be fantastic and another great opportunity to raise awareness with his support.
Probably experiencing heavy rain, strong winds or thunderstorms. I went through a hurricane a few years ago and I don't welcome that type of weather.
Pictured: Charity patron and Lieutenant-Governor, Vice Admiral Jerry Kyd visited Tim at St Brelade's Parish Hall.
I'm most looking forward to meeting more people and talking to them about the important work that we and other local homeless charities do, so we can work together to eradicate the issue.
That I have been very lucky not to have found myself in that position. I've worked hard all my life and provided for my family, but so have lots of people who end up homeless. It’s making me really appreciate what I have – that I don't have to live on the street, in my car, or sofa surf. The more we can do to help these people get back on their feet, the better – help them find work, rebuild their self-respect, and get back their independence.
It comes back to raising awareness and money, and supporting our terrific team who do an amazing job. Their work is very stressful, they do long hours and are absolutely dedicated to what they do.
Pictured: "It’s making me really appreciate what I have – that I don't have to live on the street, in my car, or sofa surf."
I want to give them as much support as possible because without them we can't support the people who need it. Ideally, we will make sure that the charity is financially stable over many years so we can keep providing our services.
I haven't publicly announced this yet, but here goes... I've started learning to unicycle, would you believe? It’s something I thought about doing about 30 years ago but never got around to it , but now I can actually do it. The plan at some point is to cycle around the island on my unicycle. I may demonstrate my newfound skill at one of the sleep outs for any members of the public who come along to support me. You never know, we might even get the Lieutenant Governor to give it a go too!
If we could get upwards of £12,000, that would really be something. But any contributions that people are able to make would be very welcome.
Donate to #Tims12ParishSleepOut HERE.
This is a snipper of a podcast interview with Tim — listen to the full version or search ‘Bailiwick Podcasts’ on your favourite pod provider:
Think you could sleep rough to help the Sanctuary Trust? It's annual – and most important – fundraiser, the Pier Road car park Sleep Out is taking place on 17 November. Find out more details and sign up by clicking HERE.
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