'We had children going to sleep in the reading corner'

Holly Evans speaks to families whose children are benefiting from the 900 beds your generosity helped us to buy last year

- Holly Evans

Dozens of children have benefited from a good night's sleep and subsequent improvement in their school performance thanks to a charity that has donated hundreds of beds to families in the run-up to Christmas.

Last year, The Independent’s Christmas appeal bought more than 900 beds for children with the support of our readers, who raised more than £150,000 for the Leeds-based organisation Zarach in just four weeks. Nearly 1 million children live in accommodation without access to a bed, with many sleeping on the floor.

With a new bed and a place to read books, play and lay their heads, teachers have seen exhausted youngsters transform into excitable pupils, while one mother’s children are now happier and more content than they’ve been in years.

For Cherieann Pickering, she and her three children had spent the last few years struggling with a lack of sleep as the four of them crowded into one bedroom at her parents’ house on the Warwick Estate in Knottingley, West Yorkshire.

The 25-year-old shared a bed with her eldest daughter Sandra, eight, while her youngest two children, Annie-May, four, and Anthony, two, slept on a single bed and in a cot.

Being aware of her living situation, Sandra’s school contacted Cherieann after her daughter spoke to teachers about her sleeping routine. Upon being referred to Zarach, her home was assessed before volunteers delivered bunk beds for two of her children, to ensure they had their own safe space to sleep.