Staff at The News in Portsmouth are celebrating after raising £3,000 for Comic Relief by completing a 24-hour sleepover.

Around 100 people from the paper’s News Centre offices in Hilsea braved the cold to take part in the Big Red Lie-in on Red Nose day – taking it in turns to sleep in a double bed non-stop from 5pm on Thursday to 5pm on Friday.

Advertisement director Peter Timperley, who organised the event, said: “It was fantastic. Everyone only got about two hours sleep, but it really was a riot and we had a huge pillow fight at the end.”

Volunteers took it in turns to ‘man’ the bed in half-hour shifts, and through sponsorship and collection buckets around £3,000 raised – thrashing the £500 target.

Peter said: “It was actually warmer during the night than in the day – and the alcohol helped!

“It was good fun – I’m not saying I’d do it again, but I’m pleased we did it. There was no doubt we would finish it.”

Readers also helped keep spirits up by hooting their car horns in encouragement as they passed the News Centre, and one taxi driver even stopped by in the middle of the night to donate £20.

People could also keep track of the action via the paper’s web cam, which recorded 60,000 page views in the run-up to the stunt and during the actual event.