It wasn’t a highlight of Sharon Pavey’s year.

Sleeping on a cold pavement, tucked behind a supermarket, was not what Sharon Pavey had in mind when she joined Honiton Town Council.

But the Green Party member says, while the experience will not be a highlight of her 2012, she was glad to forsake a comfy bed if it meant she could raise hundreds of pounds for a worthy cause.

Mum Sharon joined the Midweek Herald team for a sponsored sleep-out in Honiton on Wednesday.

The exercise was organised to raise cash for The King’s Centre Food Bank, which fed 25 families in its first five weeks.

“Trying to sleep on a cold pavement overnight in February is probably not a highlight of my year so far, but it is well worth it if I’ve managed to raise over �250 for people who cannot afford to eat here in our own community,” said Sharon.

“For me, personally, I woke up yesterday thinking more about just how hard it is for people to get back on their feet.

“Being at the bottom of the ladder in our society, a victim of government cuts and society’s extreme inequalities, doesn’t make you want to jump up and embrace the day, it seriously gets you down.”

Sharon, who would like to thank everyone who sponsored her, added: “For families who cannot afford to pay constantly rising bills, fill up their electric key and buy basic items like food, toiletries and clothes, life is an endless struggle.

“I hope our sleep-out will help ease these burdens for some but, unless the government makes big changes in order to support the less well off, nothing will change.”