Dad-of-two aims to raise half a million for the NHS with garden camp-a-thon

A father-of-two is hoping to raise half a million pounds for the NHS by camping in his back garden.

Ian Alcorn, a bathroom fitter from Nottingham, planned to raise £100 for the NHS coronavirus effort by encouraging friends and family to camp in their gardens, however his fundraiser quickly gathered over £100,000.

As a way of entertaining his children, he set up a tent in his back garden, inviting a few friends and neighbours to join at home and donate £2 to NHS Charities Together.

Mr Alcorn told the PA news agency: “The basis of the idea stemmed from boredom at home, it was a Sunday night and I was waiting for Antiques Roadshow to come on.

“My wife’s a key worker so there were some days we needed to fill and others not. I thought at the weekend, let’s treat the kids to a camp-out. We couldn’t go out so we would camp in the garden!”

Mr Alcorn now plans to host another camp-out over the Easter weekend, inviting people to sleep in their gardens in a bid to raise his total to £500,000 to support NHS staff.

He told PA: “I had to go for an early lunch today just to sit down and calm down a bit! It’s phenomenal, absolutely mind-blowing. They [family] are ecstatic for me.

“We think we can hopefully raise some more, we’re going to keep it open for another week or so.”

Mr Alcorn has been helped by an admin team involving a friend and three others he connected with on Facebook, and has received the backing of outdoor retailer Go Outdoors.

He also plans to support the NHS by joining in the Clap for Carers applause scheduled for Thursday evening, as he has done for the last two weeks.

“We’ve had a disco ball out the front and this evening we’re planning to get some instruments out, pots and pans,” he told PA.

Donations to NHS Charities Together can be found at the link: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/greatbritishcampout