Molineux Sleepout 2026: Hardy souls come to endure cold night out to support Wolverhampton charities

It was a a cold night, but there was a warm and fun feeling for the hardy souls taking on a rough sleeping challenge for two Wolverhampton charities.

The 2026 Molineux Sleepout saw more than 200 people sleep outside in the rows of seating in the Stan Cullis Stand at Molineux Stadium on Friday night.

The annual event, which is organised by the Wolves Foundation, helps to raise much needed funds for both the Foundation and for the Good Shepherd, a charity which works to help homeless people across Wolverhampton.

Despite what was a very cold night night, the atmosphere inside the Stan Cullis Stand was a friendly and bouncy one, with friends and family setting up sleeping bags, blankets and cardboard boxes to protect themselves from the elements.

In the concourse of the stand, there were opportunities to chat with other participants and members of the Wolves Foundation and Good Shepherd, as well as enjoy a free pie and hot drink from the kiosks and tables set up by volunteers.

On what was the eighth edition of the Sleepout, the event continued to bring in participants from all across the city, including several schools bringing large numbers of pupils to take part.

Among the participants taking on the challenge was Dan Holmes, who was taking part in his fifth Sleepout and said his affiliation to Wolves as a fan had been the catalyst for him getting involved.

He said: “It started with my affiliation to Wolves and Molineux and supporting the team, then I became a project coordinator for a Wolves Foundation community project, and that got me in contact with the Foundation face-to-face and helped me to find out about the sleepout properly.

“That got me thinking that it was a good way to give back to the community and the first time was very exciting and what made it exciting was the community coming together, with strangers talking and chatting and sharing their stories about being part of this.

“I’ve always said that tonight, as much as it’s an experience of giving, we are here for one night and we got to choose what we bring to sleep in, whereas a lot of people don’t have that opportunity and sleep in what that’ve got, so it’s always worth remembering the most vulnerable are why we are here.”

A number of businesses were supporting the event, including Pukka Pies and Bostin’ Coffee, while Gareth Jones, managing director of In-Comm Training, was there to support the event, having had the Good Shepherd as their chosen charity in 2025.

He said: “We donated days for volunteering and raised funds and I’ve become a business ambassador for the Good Shepherd and, this year, I ran the London Marathon for them.

“What they do is really powerful and I’ve been out at 6.30am with the outreach workers, going to speak to homeless people and try to offer care for them, get them help and get them into recovery and try and get them back into society, so the work they do is amazing.

“This event is brilliant and the community come together, so you get all sorts taking part, like the lady I spoke to who is 70-years-old and came here on her own for the evening, so it’s fantastic to see the community come out.”

The participants on the night were a real mixture of young and old, with everyone having raised funds towards the event alongside paying their admission fee to take part.

The event began with a series of speeches from invited guests such as Wolves Foundation ambassador Mitch Lane and people who had been helped by the Good Shepherd, as well as messages of support from the Mayor of Wolverhampton Councillor Paul Singh and Wolverhampton West MP Warinder Juss.

Other people offering thanks for those taking part including Wolves Foundation chief executive Will Clowes and Good Shepherd chief executive Tom Hayden, who both spoke about the importance of the event.

Will Clowes said: “This is one of the key events on our annual event calendar and is something we committed to a long time ago, trying to raise awareness of the challenges faced by people in our city and work alongside the Good Shepherd, so it’s a brilliant event.

“We’re always so glad to have so much support from so many people and every single year, it seems to get bigger and bigger and I’m always surprised by the turnout as it’s one heck of a challenge, sleeping out in November.

“Every year, we are delighted by the turnout and we’re lucky with the weather this year as it’s nice and clear and while it’s cooler, it’s drier, so hopefully we’re in for a calmer evening.”

Tom Hayden said: “It’s absolutely incredible as we’ve been doing this since 2019 and the fact that people still turn up, are enthusiastic and supporting the event is crazy and such an incredible night.

“I couldn’t imagine it being as big as it is now when we first started, but you look out the door and there are just floods and floods of people coming through, so even though it’s going to be freezing, people are still willing to come out and support the work of the Good Shepherd.”