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'Without this place I would probably be frozen'

BBC Three men sit at a table eating soup out of bowls. One is wearing a blue shirt, has an earring and grey hair. Another has a white beard and wears a black fleece. Another has a beard and a blue shirt. In the background people are queuing for food. BBC
The Salvation Army offers a hot meal as part of its shelter

The Salvation Army in Eastbourne opens its cold weather shelter for a third night on Saturday as freezing temperatures continue.

Eastbourne Borough Council (EBC) activated its severe weather emergency protocol (SWEP) on Thursday.

The Salvation Army provides a warm indoor space to have dinner and breakfast, a shower, tea and coffee and a camper bed at its site on Langney Road.

Lukasz, one of the people using the shelter, said: "Without this place probably I would be frozen right now."

Lukasz sits on the floor wearing jeans, a black long-sleeved top and glasses. Next to him is his dog, a husky, who lies on a yellow blanket.
Lukasz said things get worse and worse the longer you are on the streets

"Without some support where you can actually maybe wash your clothes or take a shower or eat something, there's no way you are going to survive for long," he added.

SWEP generally comes into force when temperatures are set to fall below 0C or an ice and snow weather warning is issued.

Maj Ralph Walker, commanding officer at the Salvation Army said: "We just want to care for these people and it's not right that they should be outside sleeping.

"We would like to do it more but financially we can't so we just do it as much as we can."

EBC said its outreach team was working with partner agencies to make contact with people sleeping rough in the area.

On its Facebook page, it said: "If you see someone sleeping rough in the cold weather, you can make a StreetLink alert to connect them to support services. Your action can save their life."

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