A group will be walking from Peel to Douglas in the dark to highlight homelessness in the island.

No matter the weather, participants will walk the old railway line to raise funds for Graih - a shelter in Douglas that provides overnight accommodation and a safe social space for those struggling to find a permanent place to live.

Organiser Alex Brown decided that walking outside at night-time would not only be a good way of raising funds, but it may help people’s understanding of what homeless men and women are going through.

The clergyman for the Douglas Council Town Centre Partnership, said: ’I’m trying to raise money for charities that are already existing and I was talking to people about issues that hit Douglas and a lot of people said "homelessness".

’This is a test run of "can I do something and will it engage people to do something for the community".’

Alex wants to highlight the issue in a practical way especially as the months are getting colder, which brings additional problems to those struggling.

The money raised is hoped to support Graih’s night shelter project, led by charity manager Erica Irwin.

The idea of this shelter is to not only provide a place to sleep, but to collect data to determine the level of homelessness that exists in the island.

’Speaking with Housing Matters [another charity], the problem is big. We just don’t know how big,’ Erica said.

’We pushed for the night shelter and got together some funding with help from the Manx Lottery Trust, Treasury and the Department of Health and Social Care.

’It’s a 12-month project, which runs until the end of January. We’ve provided 407 bed spaces in 10 months for 48 different individuals. The majority are Manx residents.’

Discussions are in place with the DHSC to figure out whether they can get more funding. ’We’d love to bring some stability into Graih,’ she said.

The manager added that to ’rough sleep in the summer isn’t as bad as in the winter’.

’In winter they could die. It’s harsh out there,’ she continued.

’People tend to think about homelessness in the winter because it’s cold, but to not be able to have your own safe space no matter what the weather’s like is not great.’

As the affected men and women don’t always sleep all the way through the night, she said, they often go for a walk at night to clear their heads.

She said the night walk idea ’reflects that there are a lot of really vulnerable people who walk during this time because they need to’.

The Homelessness Night Walk will begin from 8pm at Fenella Beach in Peel on November 16.

Members of the public are welcome to take part with the walk predicted to end at McDonald’s by midnight.

Find out more by searching: www.facebook.com/events/632177477523439/