Ian Alcorn has teamed up with OHM Clothing to produce fundraising merch for the 'camp out at home'

CAMPING NUT Ian Alcorn has encouraged thousands to ‘camp out at home’ to raise money for the NHS in the fight against coronavirus. He’s even teamed up with Wiltshire-based company OHM Clothing to produce fundraising ‘merch’ to boost the initiative.

Ian Alcorn is one of thousands of committed campers and caravanners across the UK who take every opportunity to travel once winter has passed.

With lockdown, that possibility has ebbed away however Ian has come up with an innovative way of ‘camping out at home’ and created The Great British Campout. He’s asking people to camp out safely at home and donate the pitch fees they would have paid to the campaign.

Camping and caravanning fans were asked to donate £2 to a JustGiving page for every night they camped out and so far, in a fortnight, more than £140,000 has been raised at time of writing (April 15).

Ian said “The initial idea came from me wanting to break the monotony of this unusual situation and do something with the kids at the weekend. Treat them for all their hard work home learning! I was settling down to watch Antiques Roadshow and boom! there it was - a Campout in the garden. I got some friends involved via facebook and t I thought we could raise a few quid for NHS staff, I didn’t think for one second, we’d be over £140,000 in a fortnight.

If you can’t camp on your van or tent, make a den, make a donation but most of all make memories and have fun”
Within a few days, Ian joined forced with clothing company OHM Clothing – which produces branded school uniform, workwear and charity clothing - and his run by husband and wife team Anthony and Jemma Brown.

Anthony said “I saw this campaign and talked to Ian about it. Our business has been badly affected by the lockdown although we fully support it. This seemed a great way to give back to the NHS and help them get through it too – and there’s no doubt it’s also saved our business and kept me going. £5 from each hoodie goes to the charitable giving. To date these hoodies have raised more than £6,000. And we’ve purposefully kept the price to the supporter down, that’s been a really important element to us”

Ian said “having the hoodies and other clothing items creates a sense of solidarity, raises extra money for the campaign and explains why a whole group of people are ‘camping out at home’. It allows us to come together.
All of the money raised will go to NHS Charities Together which will be helping at a time of crisis. It’s the least we can do”

The Great British Campout has captured the public’s imagination.

Ian said: "It has completely surpassed my expectations. It is quite emotional and overwhelming. We have nearly 34,000 members on our Facebook page, people joining in from all over the world and taking part. Raising this money has been an incredible thing to do, knowing our small part of something so huge will have an impact is very humbling"

Anthony from OHM said “There is no way of explaining how much this means to us as a family-run business. Two weeks ago thought we would lose everything – the sheer numbers of orders of this amazing brand has meant a huge sum of money for the NHS, but has also meant we will get through this as a business, the pure volume means we will stay afloat. This has given us the idea of branching out to help as many charities as we can with a new venture too, it’s really quite mind-blowing.’

More information on how to take part can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GreatBritishCampout/

Clothing for the event can be bought here: https://www.ohmclothing.co.uk/product-category/great-british- campout