Dome brings hope to the homeless

First it was a failed celebration of the millennium, then an empty white elephant. But today the Dome has found a new purpose - as a Christmas shelter for London's homeless.

As many as 1,000 rough sleepers are expected to spend a few festive days in Greenwich, being given food and shelter at a time when others are celebrating with their families.

The numbers are a stark reminder of the scale of the problem in the capital. Some 4,000 volunteers will spend part of their holiday feeding and giving basic medical care to the homeless.

They will also offer courses and activities which will attempt to give their charges a way off the streets. As well as a full Christmas lunch there will be everything from arts and craft lessons to manicures, as well as 24-hour television and performances by musicians such as Tom Robinson.

The initiative means Gerald Mulhern, 37, will be able to escape life on the streets for a short while.

He has been sleeping rough on and off for 20 years, and is a regular visitor to Christmas shelters run by the homeless charity Crisis .

Also there will be Kristian Begue, 46, who ended up with nowhere to go 11 years ago after a fire gutted his family home in Tottenham, killing his parents.

Mr Begue now spends his nights sleeping rough behind St Martin-in-the-Fields.

During the day he spends his time painting at the Skylight centre run by Crisis in Commercial Street, Aldgate, with a view to selling his work.

Thanks to skills honed at the Skylight centre, Edwin Linton, 61, is more positive about his future after 30 year on the streets. He now plans to start up in business selling handmade candles.

"It's brilliant what Crisis is doing with the Dome," he said. "I'd like to see it turned into flats for the homeless."