Birmingham cathedral turns away charity buskers

Birmingham charity volunteers were busking to raise money for the homeless when St. Philips cathedral security asked them to leave.

Let's Feed Brum were doing a three-day sleepout at the end of November called "I'm Homeless Get Me Out Of Here". Two of their volunteers, Gary Haywood and Daniel Hadley, were sleeping rough and busking for donations for the homeless.

They were busking at St. Philips with hopes of raising more money due to the influx of visitors from the German Market. Daniel said:

“After about 20 minutes of playing a member of the church came and asked us what we were doing, we told him, and he said that’s fine. But after two songs the security came and told us that the verger of the church had told us to go, we had explained that the money wasn’t for ourselves, but they weren’t supporting it.”

Despite being told to move, they returned the following day after getting support from one of the German Market Stalls who told them they could perform in front of their stall.

Gary said: “We had got people, in the short time we were here, putting money in the guitar case, which we shared last night with homeless people, which they were very grateful for.

“In that time we raised £15, just within that half an hour, so how much more could we have raised if we had stayed.”

However, when returning the stall owners had changed their minds leading the duo to travel else were to perform, which took them to St Martin's Church, where they were granted permission to busk.

Let's Feed Brum's sleepout falls on the same dates as the St. Basil's sleepout. Gary added:

“We totally support what they’re doing, but ours is independent because we wanted to sleep out on the streets, on the cold floor and we wanted to engage with the homeless people and hear their story and try and work together where we go from here.”

They recorded what they did through Facebook live and using other forms of social media allowing the public to see their experience and gain updates. They gained a lot of support following the event after posting about it on Facebook:

Daniel said, “We hope in the next year it will inspire more people to do the same as what we’ve done and raise awareness, from us showing people the truth and how people live on the street, it means we can help a lot better. If in a years’ time this gets three people off the streets, then it’s all been worth it.”

St. Philip's Cathedral has yet to make a comment.