IT leaders raise £200K at Potters Fields sleep-out

NCH's Byte Night sleep out now in its seventh year gathered together high profile IT industry professionals including board members from Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, O2 & Sun Microsystems who turned out for a night under the stars on Potters Fields.

They all gathered in City Hall for a reception with speeches and a video on youth homelessness from Jenny Agutter and Byte Night founder Ken Deeks. A quiz was hosted by ITV News presenter Felicity Barr and an auction conducted by Bad Girls star Jack Ellis before all the sleepers found their patch for the night.

David Wright, Vice-President & General Manager, PSG & SPO Hewlett Packard UK&I said, " I thought it was a great event to see the IT industry pulling together to put something back into society. One night sleeping-out in September is not, of course, a true reflection of the challenges faced by many children and young people. One night was easy – I can't imagine how they handle it day after day. I hope that the money we raised will help to get these young people off the streets and give them support to build a better life."

Simon Burne, Director of Marketing & Fundraising at NCH, commented, "The event just gets better and better. Even when the weather is poor, we get a fantastic turnout. The commitment of so many senior members of the IT industry is just wonderful, and we're on course for raising more money than ever before."