Four churches in Grantham are opening their doors to provide homeless people a place to sleep at night.

From 6 January next year, St Wulfram's Church, Harrowby Lane Methodist Church, St Mary's Roman Catholic Church and the Seventh Day Adventist Church will be taking it in turns to offer the homeless shelter every night for a week.

Currently clergy have to send vulnerable people to Peterborough, Lincoln or Nottingham to access emergency accommodation.

The initiative is spearheaded by Rector of St Wulfram's Fr Stuart Cradduck and, to enable it to work, he says it must be a cross-community initiative with four volunteers required to help at the churches each night.

Fr Stuart and the Grantham Ark committee are inviting community groups and individuals willing to help to email [email protected].

Fr Stuart said: "We live in a time when those on the 'edges of society' are too often forgotten or ignored.

"I sincerely hope that people will recognise this growing situation and respond to this call for help as the church communities come together to try and help those on the margins of our lives."

Volunteer training sessions will be held on 8 and 14 November.

Fr Stuart is also challenging churches in the town to work towards setting up a permanent emergency night shelter for the increasing number of homeless people in the area.

A number of church representatives have begun to forge a way forward and initial plans include Grantham's first SleepOut to raise funds towards an emergency shelter and awareness of the local homelessness issue.

The SleepOut will take place in the grounds of the National Trust's Grantham House on Friday, 6 December from 9pm to 7am.

Fr Stuart said: "We want to encourage as many people as possible to take part in this event, to spend the night outside no matter what the weather to see a glimpse of what it is like to be homeless for the night."

The SleepOut is open to everyone and more details, including a briefing document, flyers and registration and sponsorship forms can be found by visiting St Wulfram's website by clicking the red button below.