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To give to this year's appeal call: 0800 082 82 84. Or donate online via the Radio 4 website. Or send cheques payable to St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 4JJ

"It's easy to walk in your home town when you're a success, but when things are not going your way you want to be somewhere where nobody knows anything about you." Ben, formerly a project manager in construction from Glasgow, found himself homeless in London for the first time: "I had no sleeping bag, I had no skills, I'd lived an ordinary life." He is one of the many people who have been helped by the Christmas Appeal this past year. He received shelter, food, help and advice at the Connection at St Martins. For 85 years radio listeners have been giving to this St Martin-in-the-Fields Christmas Appeal. The money also maintains a special Vicar's Relief fund which makes thousands of one off grants to people in need across the UK. It might be a grant to help someone secure a tenancy and prevent homelessness or money for a family needing basic furniture - a bed, a cooker as they move from a hostel into temporary accommodation.