Midweek Herald staff, together with Green Party town councillor Sharon Pavey, prepare for the longest night of their lives.

The temperature is holding up in Honiton as Midweek Herald staff prepare for, what could be, the longest night of their lives.

Together with Green Party town councillor Sharon Pavey, they are staging a sponsored sleep out to raise cash for a newly-established food bank and complementary community services based at The King’s Centre.

In the five weeks since its launch, the food bank has fed 25 local families.

A debt counselling service is also based at the centre.

Sponsored by East Devon District Council, the team will be bedding down in sleeping bags close to the town centre.

The brainchild of advertising executive Claire Pearce, the event is being supported the Herald’s editor, Belinda Bennett, reporter Katy Griffin, photographer Alex Walton and sub-editor Dave Somerton Rees, among others.

Pitches will be snapped up from 9pm when Claire will launch the sleep out.

Meanwhile, Belinda will be at The Orange Tree pub with other Herald staff supporting local musicians before they, too, take to the streets.

Sponsorship has already been received from the Mayor of Honiton, Councillor Vernon Whitlock, ex-councillors Richard Gaughan and Jill McNally, Colin Wright, chairman of Honiton and District Chamber of Commerce and Industry and reader Barbara Bartlett, among others.

The effort intends to help struggling families survive the economic downturn.

You can help by donating cash via the Tourist Information Centre or by taking non-perishable food to the collection point at St Paul’s Church.