This December, housing and homelessness charity Shelter are aiming to host the UK’s biggest virtual carol concert. The concert will bring the nation together in song, as concert-goers show their support for people facing homelessness this winter.

The ‘Home Hope Song’ concert will be hosted in the candle-lit church of St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, where Shelter was founded in 1966. It will run for forty-five minutes, and be streamed via Shelter’s website. The service will be hosted by DJ and long-time Shelter supporter Edith Bowman.

The service will feature the stories of people who have been supported by Shelter, as well as exclusive appearances from famous faces including Julie Walters, Stephen Fry and Robert Rinder.

In England, hundreds of thousands of people - including families with young children - were already homeless when the pandemic first took hold - with a household becoming homeless every four minutes. The economic chaos of the pandemic means that many more people are facing homelessness for the first time this year; and some of them will be forced to sleep on the streets this winter.

The carol concert is an opportunity to sing together in solidarity with those experiencing or facing homelessness, as well as reflecting on the year gone by.

Ahead of the event, concert attendees are encouraged to display a drawing of a house in their window, as a symbol of solidarity for the people Shelter are supporting and to show their communities that they’re taking part. The public can get creative and draw their own, or use the template that Shelter will send via email to those who sign up to the carol concert.

The concert will be free to stream, but any donations made will support Shelter’s work. As the event sponsors, Nationwide Building Society will match fund donations up to £43k.

Sign up for the carol concert for free via www.shelter.org.uk/carols and receive a welcome pack including ideas on creating a magical evening, fundraising inspiration and activities to support Shelter further.