London: memorial service for homeless people who have died
An ecumenical Service of Commemoration for homeless people who have died on the streets of London and other big cities, in the past year, is held every year at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, during Remembrance Week. This year the service will be on Thursday 12 November at 11.30am. Everyone is welcome.
The event concludes with a moving listing of the people who have died homeless on the streets of London and other big cities in the past year. Last year, nearly a hundred names were read out.
If you know of people who have died since last November please could you send in their name(s) for inclusion in this service to: a.murray@housingjustice.org.uk
Alison Gelder, Chief Executive of Housing Justice commented: “All are welcome to come together at the service to reflect on the lives of those who have died homeless, and often in tragic circumstances, over the past year. In many cases this is the only time these lives will be remembered so it is especially important that these people’s deaths are marked in this way.”
Roger Shaljean from the Connection at St Martin's says: "This service is so affective because it is like a family service. We commemorate homeless people known to us and also staff and volunteers from the different agencies who died in the past year."An important part of the service every year consists in the reading out of the names of people who have died, those known to all the different agencies working with homeless and vulnerable people such as hostels, day centres, outreach and church based services.