Devon’s ‘tent boy’ Max Woosey ready for 500th night

  • Max Woosey describes how he feels about reaching his milestone night

An 11-year-old boy from North Devon is ready to spend his 500th night sleeping in a tent.

Max Woosey, from Braunton, is known as ‘Tent Boy’ and has raised more than £640,000 for his local hospice since starting.

The schoolboy will reach the milestone on Tuesday night (August 10).

He said: "It feels amazing to reach 500 nights. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long because so many cool things have happened since I started camping outside.

Max Woosey in his tent in his garden Credit: PA

"At the beginning, I never thought it would last this long - but I absolutely love it."

Max started to camp outside for charity at the start of the UK’s first lockdown in March 2020 to raise funds for North Devon Hospice.

The hospice is a family favourite and helped to look after Max’s neighbour and friend, Rick Abbott, who gave him his first tent.

'None of us can really believe it'

Max’s mum, Rachel, admitted she is surprised her son has continued to sleep outside this long.

She said: "It has been a whole other world. It started off as my little 10-year-old boy camping out in the garden for a few nights and hoping to raise £100 for the local hospice.

"None of us can really believe what has happened since. There have been so many exciting opportunities for Max along the way.

"Who would have thought he’d be doing a talk with Little Mix and their fans over Zoom?"

Max Woosey sat down with Boris Johnson beside his tent Credit: PA

Besides meeting pop stars, Max has also received videos of support from his heroes Jonny Wilkinson and Bear Grylls.

He even had an invitation to pitch his tent next to the lion enclosure at London Zoo and in the garden of 10 Downing Street.

Rachel added: "We’re so proud of how he has kept his feet on the ground and taken everything in his stride, because the attention at times would have been a lot to cope with.

"I’ve said to him on numerous occasions that he doesn’t have to stay outside anymore, and that he has already achieved something special, but he always says no.

"He wanted to carry on because he never lost sight of why he was doing this and he always wanted to raise more money for the hospice."