'It was cold, the floor was hard and worst of all there was no phone signal' - Boys camped overnight in Black Country crypt
Adventurous pupils from Walsall's Blue Coat Academy raised hundreds of pounds for a good cause by spending the night in an ancient church crypt.
Adam Gore and Flint Hickenbottom-Marriott, both aged 15, and Jack Sargent, aged 16, have all signed up for an eco trip to Cambodia in the Far East to lend a hand with community projects next summer. To cover the cost of the month-long trip with the Camps International organisation, they need to raise £5,000 each.
Among their fundraising activities was a sponsored night camping in the undercroft next to a bone store containing 800 bodies at the historic worship centre in St Matthew's Close which is also Walsall's oldest building.
Jack explains: "So we're going on a trip next year to Cambodia and we're hoping to do some environmental and community work. We have got to raise just under £5,000. It was kind of like a joint idea that we all had to do a sponsored sleep out at the church."
"It was cold, it was dark, the floor was hard and worst of all, there was no signal for our phones, but it went much better than we expected.”
Despite at first admitting it was a scary feat, the boys rose to the challenge during the Easter half-term break to stay in the crypt at the site near the school in Birmingham Street. As a result of their efforts they have so far raised a combined sum of more than £500 from it.
St Matthew's Church volunteer John Edlin adds. "There's a few interesting features which can't be seen with the naked eye under here. Behind the wall there's bones of about 800 bodies. These were buried in the graveyard over a period of years and they were tidied up towards the end of the 18th century and placed in a bone stall."
"There's stories, for example, about tunnels that go into caves near here, but they are stories. They're not verified.
"This room is all that's left of the church that was built between 1150 and 1180. So it is by far Walsall's oldest building and by more than 500 years older than anything else in the town. It was known as All Saints Church up until the middle of the 18th century. It probably changed its name because one of the annual fairs fell on St Matthew's Day and St Matthew's Day was a day when a lot of the doles were given out to help poor people.
"I can understand how the people would think, yeah, let's call it St Matthew's, because it was probably popularly known as St Matthew's a long time before its name actually changed," Mr Edlin adds.
In addition to the sleep out, the pupils have also organised a cricket match plus car boot sales and upcoming activities include a football match on July 5 at Delves Green Road playing fields and a school concert. To donate towards their trip visit webpage gofundme.com/f/adam-flint-and-jack-volunteer-to-help-in-cambodia-2026
