Radio 4 Appeal - 05/12/2010

To give to this years appeal call: 0800 082 82 84. Or donate online via the Radio 4 website. Or send cheques payable to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 4JJ For over 80 years Radio 4 listeners have supported the work of St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, last year this appeal raised a record £900,000. The money helps homeless people who receive shelter, food, help and advice at the Connection at St Martins and it maintains a special Vicar's Relief fund which makes thousands of one off grants to people in need across the UK. Like the family in Manchester who took their child to their GP and later that day found themselves in a hospital 50 miles away, their child having been diagnosed with leukemia. They couldn't afford money for transport so the social worker at Manchester Children's Hospital applied to the Vicar's Relief Fund for help. This year you can get a very personal view of life on the streets thanks to a photography project, which has encouraged homeless clients to take pictures of their world. Ben Richardson who runs the group says: "homelessness is a very lonely situation" looking at the photographs he says "I realised that I work with homeless people but I don't live in their world and that's the gift of these photos for me and others." You can see an audio slideshow of the photos on the Radio 4 website.