For 11-year-old Karl*, going to bed has been a torturous experience for much of this year.
The youngster and his six-year-old brother have been sleeping on second-hand mattresses on the floor of their shared room at the family home in Leeds.
So pronounced had the springs of those old mattresses become that both boys had begun waking up with marks on their bodies.
“They were telling me every morning the springs dig into them and wake them up every time they turn over in their sleep,” their mum told The Independent.
“They were saying they couldn’t sleep properly, and I could see they were waking up almost as tired as they went to bed. But I’m a single mum – I have no way of affording two new beds. It made me feel desperate, absolutely desperate.”
This Christmas morning, however, things will be different.
The two boys will wake up in their very own brand new beds – complete with brand new mattresses and wearing brand new pyjamas.
That’s because they are among the 850 families who have received new beds as part of this year’s Independent-backed Christmas charity appeal. Senior politicians, religious leaders and business chiefs have all added their support to the cause.
Writing in The Independent today, former prime minister Gordon Brown said the appeal highlighted the reality of poverty in the UK in 2023, adding: “It is a state of affairs I never thought I would see again in my lifetime. And the blunt truth is that 2024 is likely to be worse, not better.”
Generous readers of this publication have raised some £145,000 to purchase new sleeping spaces for some of the UK’s most disadvantaged children.
And, by working with Leeds-based charity Zarach, the vast majority of those beds have now been delivered in time for today’s festivities.
Karl said: “It’s great to have my own bed. It’s so comfy. I love my new Marvel pyjamas.”
“It’s just made this the best Christmas ever,” said Karl’s mother. “And it’s such a weight off my mind. I was dreading going into new year with those springs getting worse, so this just really feels Santa has visited.”
In particular, she liked the draws underneath both beds (“because it gives us a space for their toys”), while the boys themselves were especially pleased with their Marvel pyjamas.
“They both absolutely love their comic books and games, so Marvel was perfect,” said the boys’ mother.
Mattresses are lined up, ready to be dispatched, at the Zarach charity’s headquarters
Did it mean they were both keen to get to bed early last night? A moment’s consideration. “They’re children,” she said. “They’re never keen to get to bed.”
Of course, this being Christmas morning, it seems unlikely a lie-in would have been enjoyed either.
Yet their mother is convinced that this new furniture will be transformative.
“You can’t function when you’re tired – we all know that,” the 40-year-old mother of five said. “And they never exactly complained of being tired but how could they not have been? These beds won’t just help them sleep – it will improve their whole lives.”
850 families have been given new beds as part of this year’s ‘Independent’-backed Christmas charity appeal
The charity’s HQ is a grotto of beds, pillows, pyjamas, duvets, toothbrushes and chocolate treats
