Mary Razon and Mihai Goidescu (pictured above at the tournament), a married couple who are both pre-registration trainee pharmacy technicians at our Trust, organised a football tournament in support of Stop Hate UK. They raised £820, boosted to over £1,000 with gift aid.

Mihai, 33, is a keen footballer so the couple came up with the idea of holding a football tournament when Euro 2020 fever gripped the country over the summer. Supported by the rest of their team in our Pharmacy department, they decided to use it as an opportunity to bring everyone together, and raise money for a cause close to their hearts.

Mary, 30, said: “We chose this cause because there has been a lot of hate crime. My brother has also raised money for this charity on several occasions.

“I was so thrilled by how well it went, we were impressed to see so many people come along.”

Stop Hate UK, operates the UK’s only free, 24-hour hate crime reporting service, and also runs a specialist helpline for people with learning disabilities, the LGBT+ community and young people.

Mihai added: “We didn’t expect it to be so big. At the start we expected to have around enough players for two five-a-side teams, however, we ended up with 50 players in the tournament. Families came to watch too, everyone was really supportive.

“It was a great opportunity for team building with the whole Pharmacy department getting involved. As we work across different sites and locations, it was nice to put faces to names of people you don’t usually see in person. We’ve never done anything like this before, and we hope to do it again I the future.”

The match took place on Sunday 8 August in Harold Wood Park. You can still donate via their Virgin Money page.