The Scouts ranged from 6 year old Beaver Scouts to 18 year old Explorer Scouts. One young Scout said "it's sad to know that some people will have to sleep on the hard ground this Christmas. But I'm glad NOAH can help them."

NOAH Chief Executive Jim O'Connor said "it was truly heart-warming to see the effort these young people put into raising funds for NOAH. What was even more heartening was the compassion they showed for the many individuals NOAH Enterprise helps."

Someries District Commissioner Kam Patel, who co-ordinated the Scouts effort added ""sleeping overnight in your local shopping centre certainly isn't an everyday occurrence! More importantly, the Scouts learnt a lot about the issues faced by the homeless and in true scouting tradition they gave something back to the community."

Brian McFarland, General Manager of The Mall Arndale, Luton concluded, "as far as I'm aware this is the first time that any shopping centre in the UK has held an overnight sleepover on such a scale. The whole event has been deemed a great success by all involved. I'd like to extend a big thank-you to all of the Scouts involved. They really entered into the spirit of the event and had great fun while learning about the issues faced by the homeless and disadvantaged in the area. We're delighted that we can play our part in helping NOAH Enterprise to raise funds and increase awareness of their work among future generations."

The sleepover took place on 8th November 2008, with a cheque presented to NOAH on 23^rd December. Find out more about the Luton Scouts and their sleepover.

The performance was produced by electronic composer and artist Mira Calix, video artists Flat-e and sound designer Dave Sheppard, and is reviewed here by NOAH Chief Executive Jim O'Connor:

On a crisp evening in December, in the Royal Festival Hall, something rather unique and wonderful was taking place, the official premiere of My Secret Heart, a spectacular audio-visual experience.

This was no ordinary musical drama; the audience was seated in a circle around a 360-degree screen which showed a silhouette response to a choral work inspired by Allegri's 17th-century piece, Miserere Mei. Encircling the audience and providing the choral accompaniment, in Latin, were participants from ten homeless projects nationwide. Here we, the audience, were listening to a polished, attractively different musical performance, professionally delivered by people who were working their way from homelessness and the margins of society. The performers' new-found confidence and growing self esteem were inspiring and evoked prolonged applause at the end of the evening.

The whole experience was made possible by Streetwise Opera, one of the most innovative charities in the country, who use music as a tool to help people who have experienced homelessness move forward in their lives. Having worked with Streetwise and been involved with the Festival Hall production, we at NOAH Enterprise have seen at first hand, the life-changing impact that such a partnership can bring.

The new shop will sell a range of New Furniture, Used Furniture and Kitchen Appliances.

The opening day follows 8 weeks of exhaustive work by the whole Social Enterprise team and is the result of a partnership between NOAH and The Mall Arndale and funding support from the Big Lottery Fund's Community Recycling and Economic Development Programme (CRED) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Go to our Visit Our Shops page for further information.

The competition, which attracted 85 entrants, chose winners based on the innovative and entrepreneurial ways they supported people to return to stable accommodation and employment.

Spark was launched in December 2007 and founded on the conviction that the enterprise approach offers a long-term and sustainable way to address homelessness and that cross-sector partnerships are the best way to foster this model.

In addition to £4,000, NOAH will also receive business coaching and mentoring from high-profile social entrepreneurs, including Nigel Kershaw, Chief executive of Big Issue Invest and Timothy Campbell, the first winner of The BBC‘s The Apprentice, plus business insights and management support from Spark‘s corporate partners: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Places for People and BT.

Visit the Spark website for further information and to view NOAH's Case Study video

Applicants were judged on the effect of the day centre's work on the community, the partnership between the day centre's service users, staff and management and the effect of its links with the community on the day centre itself.

NOAH was recognised for its role as a broad contributor to the social benefit of the community as well as its services to homeless people. The judges were also particularly impressed with the holistic aspect to NOAH‘s service and the way in which the furniture and white goods social enterprise provides opportunities for service users and other individuals from the local community to gain work experience in a genuine business environment as well as being a good source of second-hand and new furniture and white goods for the general public, landlords and businesses.

The award was collected by NOAH Chief Executive Jim O‘Connor and Day Centre Manager Philippa.

Visit the Homeless Link website for further information.