London: service for street homeless who died this year
Christian homelessness charity Housing Justice and the Connection at St Martin in the Fields have announced details of the annual service of commemoration for homeless people who have died in the past year.
The ecumenical service will take place on Thursday 8 November at St Martin in the Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, starting at 11.30am and will feature a performance by Streetwise Opera.
The event concludes with a listing of names of people who have died homeless on the streets of London and other big cities in the past year. In the service last year about a hundred names were read out.
Alison Gelder, Chief Executive of Housing Justice said: "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 said: "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."