CUMBRIA Community Foundation launched this year’s Big Sleep from a bed floating on Windermere.

The charity’s Chief Executive Andy Beeforth and Gary McKeating, from Nuclear Management Partners, took to the four poster bed on the lake last Friday.

The stunt is to encourage people to sign up for The Big Sleep and enjoy a night under the stars on Saturday February 7 2015 to raise money for the charity's Winter Warmth Appeal.

The Big Sleep is an organised mass sleep out in a field behind the Low Wood Hotel, near Ambleside, where participants are sponsored to camp out on a cold winter’s night.

“Every year 300 elderly people in Cumbria die because they can’t afford to heat their homes throughout the winter and that is why appeals like the Winter Warmth are so important," said Mr Beeforth. "The Big Sleep is a fun way for people to raise money and help reduce this number."

During the winter of 2013/14, Cumbria Community Foundation’s Winter Warmth Appeal raised £105,000. Of that, £23,000 was raised in one night by 170 people taking part in the inaugural Big Sleep.

To take part in the Big Sleep 2015 visit http://www.cumbriafoundation.org/bigsleep/ or call CCF on 01900 825760.