A homeless charity is still £10,000 short of saving its Transition Service – which has been called “‘vital to the dynamics of Watford”.

As the WO reported in December, Watford New Hope could be forced to axe its Transition Service in May unless it could raise £42,000.

Chief Executive Matthew Heasman said the charity had received £32,000 so far and, while he was confident of raising the final £10,000, it needed to find a long-term solution to protect the service.

He said: “We are very grateful to the residents that have donated, but we are still looking for further donations.

“I am confident someone will step forward but we don’t want to do an annual appeal – the number of rough sleepers in Watford has risen dramatically in recent years.

“The Transition Service reduces the cost to the public purse by reducing the amount of anti social behaviour and pressure on A&E.”

The annual Watford Sleepout, run by New Hope and the YMCA, will be held at St Mary’s Church tonight to raise money and awareness.

Watford Borough Councillor Seamus Williams will be among the people sleeping out tonight. He has set a £250 fundraising target.

He said: “I’m looking forward to it even though it will probably be freezing and very uncomfortable.

“No-one should be homeless, we are one of thee richest nations in the world and yet we have people without a roof over their head and so they need our help.”

Luke Bell, 23, will be taking part with his friend Tom Gibson. He said: “We regularly go in to London to hand out warm clothes and food to homeless so we wanted to raise more awareness about New Hope.

“I think this will be an eye opener and really hit home about what homeless people face every day – particularly in this cold weather.”

For more information about the charity visit www.newhope.org.uk