Councillor boycotts bed to sleep on kitchen floor

A COUNCILLOR will be exchanging a night in her bed this weekend for a night spent... on the kitchen floor.

Lynne Short, who represents the Maryfield ward, will be “boycotting her bed” and taking part in a virtual sleep out on Friday to raise cash for Action for Children.

The charity is asking people to hunker down for the night in an unusual spot as part of its Boycott the Bed challenge, to help some of the most vulnerable families across the UK.

Ms Short said the work Action for Children does is “so important” for the city – and she’s keen to raise awareness and funds for a charity close to her heart.

She said: “The staff who work there are so dedicated and they put so much into it that I feel I need to give them as much back, because they’re doing it for the bairns in this city.

“We talk about food poverty, we talk about period poverty and funeral poverty but I don’t even think that people are aware that furniture poverty is a thing.

“It’s not uncommon for kids to sleep on a mattress on a floor – even in this day and age.

“The charity works with young people up to age 25 and I think that’s another thing that we don’t focus on – the fact that vulnerability doesn’t stop when a kid gets to 16.

“Forty years ago, poverty was just the norm and everybody was OK with the way they lived because that was the way that everybody lived.

“My mum didn’t have a bathroom in the house or a bath until she was 16.

“They went to the baths in Lochee High Street and that was the way it was.

“We now live in a society where many people have lots but there are lots of people who have nothing.”

Ms Short said when the opportunity to swap her bed for somewhere a little more unfamiliar presented itself she couldn’t let it pass by.

She added: “I thought, ‘I’m going for this, I can’t not.’

“I can’t count the number of times that I’ve slept on the sofa but the kitchen floor is probably one I’ve never done before.”

Paul Carberry, Action for Children’s director for Scotland said: “We appreciate Councillor Lynne Short’s long-standing support of our work in Dundee and her taking part in Boycott Your Bed.

“We are asking people in Dundee and across Scotland to Boycott Your Bed on Friday and have some fun while raising money so that Action for Children can continue to help families in need.”

Anyone wishing to donate to Ms Short’s fundraiser can do so by searching for “Councillor Lynne Short – Boycott your Bed 2020” on JustGiving.

Those wishing to take part in Boycott your Bed can do so at boycottyourbed.co.uk/register/.

Lynne Short is preparing to spend a night sleeping on her kitchen floor.