Tim Renshaw Archer Project: 'My two weeks sleeping rough on streets of Sheffield'

Tim, who runs the Archer Project for rough sleepers, next to Sheffield Cathedral, has heard many stories about life on the streets from the people he has worked with there.

But over the last few weeks he has got closer to that experience than he has ever done before, after sleeping out in churchyards across the city for two weeks to raise money for the charity he works for.

Today he is back home and in a bed again – and he freely admits what he went through was not as tough as what those who are genuinely sleeping rough every night go through.

The original plan was for a friend who had previously lived on the streets to do two weeks rough as a fundraiser for the project. But when he had to pull out, Tim decided to take up their reins and do it himself – and get a better understanding of what those he works with go through. You can donate to the fundraiser by logging onto https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/timssleepoutslog

Tim said: “I have worked with people who suffer homelessness for 17 years. I’ve heard so many stories and walked alongside so many people but I’ve only ever spent an occasional night in a sleeping bag on the street. What would a fortnight be like? I knew it would not be the real thing. I would always be a phone call away from home.”

He started out on October 2 with a lift into Sheffield from his son, and started walking to Mosborough for his first night. He fell asleep early at St Mark’s Church, while it was still light, as he had nothing else to do there. He woke up again while it was still dark, looking around every time he heard a noise. He was woken by a rough sleeper he knew, who he described as good company. His companion lay down and was snoring in minutes, but Tim couldn’t get back to sleep.

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The second night, he was in a doorway next to St Aidan’s Church, near City Road Cemetery, with people walking past close to him. He tried to stay awake because he felt vulnerable, but fell asleep anyway as he was so tired. He said: “The danger existed. I was aware of it. Nothing happened and I counted myself lucky.

“People looked at me because I was in a doorway covered by a sleeping bag. I needed that sleeping bag. Most avoided looking at me, you get used to watching avoidance. but wonderfully, some looked right at me and said ‘hello’.

“At some point, most rough sleepers experience violence and aggression. I didn’t but I realised what it was like to live expecting something. After six nights I was so tired I remember thinking, ‘Sod it, if it happens, it happens.’ I was close to the roadside but hidden as much as possible.”

He also recalled feeling cold and hungry in Stocksbridge – he walked there from the end of the tram line at Middlewood – sitting on a cold pavement, enviously watching people going home while dreaming of the ordinariness of daily life.

He said: “ I had some company every day and I realised how important it was. It lifted me. I needed lifting. The daily lows felt like carrying a load of aloneness, a very heavy load. For some it becomes unbearable. I wanted to stop. I wanted to just sit down and disappear.

“And, for me, it did end. I went home, 14 nights completed, but not without homelessness getting into my head. My homelessness may have been fake but the feelings of loss I experienced in those 14 days were very real."

He acknowledges he was lucky also in that he had access to toilets in most of the churches where he was staying. But he feels that is an issued that faces many on the street.

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On two nights, he used a tent to keep dry, but usually found doorways to provide shelter for himself and his sleeping bag.

He is now looking back on the experience, and admits he greatly missed having a proper pillow.

Refecting on his two weeks, he said: “During my 14 nights of homelessness I was joined one evening by a young man who sleeps on the streets of Sheffield every night. He has had accommodation but lost it because of behavioural problems. He is educated. He went to university. He has skills that make him employable. He communicates well. He has a fantastic vocabulary. He can discuss a wide range of topics. He also has to fight what he sees as injustices.

“When fuelled by alcohol, he becomes aggressive if he thinks an injustice is involved. Why? He offered a big clue – ‘If I can cope with what my dad did, I can cope with anything’. He had suffered and had had to fight abuse.

"At the project we don’t ask people about their life history but when people start to talk about it, we listen. The stories range from the unfortunate to the inhumane. By the time people have reached the street they have often used drugs or alcohol as a way of escaping the hurt or pain."

Tim remembered asking one man who had got off the streets after seven years, and now had a job and a home, why it took so long to get a home. He said he had been a ‘wrong ‘un’ at school, rejected at home, and did not expect things to change.

He told him: “I just didn’t believe it could work for me. I thought that was the best life was going to be. I let your words go in one ear and out of the other. I couldn’t afford to think life could be better – not for me.”