A SALISBURY councillor braved the snow and icy conditions to hold her own Big Sleep in her garden for homeless charity Alabare after the fundraising event was cancelled.

Amanda Foster, who serves on Salisbury City Council, was due to take part in the charity's flagship fundraising event on Friday night, which was cancelled over health and safety concerns due to the weather.

She said: "It was great, I'm glad I did it.

"It was interesting. I pushed myself - I was very emotional and tired at the end of it but it was the least I could do."

She says the hardest bit of the experience was the loneliness, which she admits "really brought it home" and "makes you appreciate what you've got". She only had her teddy bear, Pink Ted, for company.

For the sleep out Cllr Foster had a fishing tent donated for the night to give her a bit more protection from the elements.

During the night, Cllr Foster posted Facebook videos to update people on her progress.

Cllr Foster has raised more than £1,000, superseding her target of £200, and before the sleep out was encouraging people to donate the cost of a coffee to support Alabare.

"I'm absolutely blown away," she said. "People were donating that I didn't know. I jokingly said 'the price of a cup of coffee can people donate?' and they were doing that.

"For people to take the trouble to donate £5 or £10 it just proves it does add up.

"It proves as a city we have got really good community spirit. I was chuffed to bits. Scrolling through and seeing people had done that and the positive messages keeps you going."

"Alabare do cracking work. Alabare are always the people you know of in the background and it's things like this that bring it to the forefront which is what we need to do. It is about everybody working together," she added.

Cllr Foster is calling on people in the city to do their bit to help their community and said: "I would like to ask the city to donate an hour or half a day or day of their time to do something for their community."

To donate go to justgiving.com/fundraising/amandafostersp1