Most 13-year-olds might have spent those three years preoccupied with schoolwork or hanging out with mates. One teenager however, spent his nights sleeping in a tent to raise money for the hospice that looked after his friend.
Now, Max Woosey – who became known as the Boy in the Tent during his years-long fundraising campaign – has decided to go back indoors after three years and more than £700,000 in charitable donations.
“I love camping, it’s one of my favourite things and I’m definitely going to miss it,” he told the Guardian. “I think the highlight would have to be the second camp out, because that year was the hardest.
“The first year was quite nice but the second was colder and there were worse storms. It was really meaningful for me because all my friends and family were there.”
He said that although the wind and rain proved to be tricky adversaries, it was last summer’s heatwave that almost forced him to return to the comforts of his bedroom.
“I had Covid during the heatwave. Honestly, it was horrible, and when there’s a heatwave your tent turns into a greenhouse. It was absolutely boiling and when you’ve got Covid, you already feel ill enough,” he said.
“My mum is the nicest person you can imagine. She gave me two options: either stay out there or come inside. I stayed out there.”
For the past year, Max had promised his mum that he would go inside when it was “absolutely necessary”, such as on holiday. But during a family trip to Madeira, the teenager lasted just two days under a solid roof before taking to sleeping on the balcony, drifting off to the sound of the nearby sea.
On the prospect of sleeping inside on a regular basis again, he said: “I think it’s going to be weird the first few nights but I think it is time to come inside now. There are future adventures we are hoping can become possible but I’ve made the right call. It is going to be strange but I’m just going to have to get over it.”
He has said he plans to hold a final celebratory camp-out festival on 1 April to round off his campaign.
Max started camping out in March 2020 to raise funds for North Devon hospice, which helped his neighbour and family friend Rick Abbott remain in his own home as he lived with terminal cancer.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said: “My friend Rick was absolutely amazing. Of course, that’s why I started it – because he loved the outdoors, he loved sports and we got along really well.
“He gave me the tent and said: ‘Max, I want you to have an adventure in it.’ And I said: ‘I promise you I will.’ And, sadly, he died just before Covid of cancer. And the North Devon hospice just took brilliant care of him and I wanted to say thank you in the biggest way I could. So I started sleeping outside and I tried to raise as much money as I could for them.”
Since his first night in the tent, Max has been awarded a British Empire Medal and Pride of Britain, Spirit of Adventure and Bear Grylls Chief Scout Unsung Hero awards. He has also camped out in the garden of No 10 and at Twickenham.
Speaking of his stint in Downing Street, he explained how he had difficulty setting up the tent in the garden because the then prime minister’s dog Dylan took a shine to his teddy and ran off with it in his mouth.
“I remember running around the garden chasing him, with his mouth on the tail, and I was chasing him around the garden. And I spent about 20 minutes running after the dog before getting [the teddy] back.”
In 2022, as the second anniversary of his campaign approached, he took part in a “big camp out”, inviting people from around the world to sleep outside, or even make a den in their bedroom.
As the third anniversary on 29 March rolls round, he plans to hold an event at Broomhill Estate, a hotel and events venue near his family home. The hotel said activities at the day festival would include axe-throwing, a silent disco in the woods, and a party bus.
It added: “Festivalgoers can return home at the end of the day, or they can experience what Max has done for three straight years and camp out in their tents alongside Max.”
Profits from the event will go to North Devon hospice. Stephen Roberts, its chief executive, told the BBC: “Max has directly funded 15 nurses for a whole year. The funds he raised for North Devon hospice in this time have made a real difference to the patients and families we support.”
