Dean Houston McKelvey will donate to charities for the homeless

Dean Houston McKelvey has been sitting outside St Anne's Cathedral in the run-up to Christmas, continuing a tradition started by his predecessors.

After seeing people sleeping rough outside the cathedral, Dean McKelvey said most of the money would go to charities for the homeless.

"When you drive into the cathedral each morning, you see folk crawling out from below bushes and out of doorways," he said.

"You get to know these guys walking around the city.

"It's not good enough for society in the 21st century, particularly in a city where most of us would regard ourselves as caring people."

The charity vigil has raised more than �2m since Dean Sammy Crooks first began the collection in 1976.

Dean Houston first sat out for Christmas two years ago, following in the wake of his predecessor Dean Jack Shearer, who died in January 2001.