Nearly £400 was raised when Ricoh and St Andrew’s Healthcare came together to play a football fundraiser in honour of England being in the UEFA European Championship final.

St Andrew’s Healthcare, located on the Billing Road, is a complex mental health charity, and the money raised on the day will go towards future patient activities and events.

Around 150 patients, staff and volunteers attended the event, which was held on the St Andrew’s sports field.  

Craig Newman, Specialist Occupational Therapist said: “This was a fantastic charity fundraising event, with 25 patients playing in the tournament from all divisions, plus there were dozens of staff and volunteers from both St Andrew’s and Ricoh.

“The matches, penalty shootouts and crossbar challenges were competitive and played with a positive attitude and great team spirit, with St Andrew’s taking home the winning trophy with the final score of 7-6 to St Andrew’s.

“A big thanks to the staff and volunteers who escorted patients, cheered them on and got involved with the fun and games. Most importantly a big shout out to the patients for displaying great sportsmanship on and off the pitch, with some great individual and team performances throughout the afternoon.”

Ricoh decided to support St Andrew’s Healthcare, by putting together a football team and raising money by selling cakes and collecting money at their offices.  

Lucy Smith, Ricoh’s Social and Sustainability Executive, said: “The St Andrew’s Healthcare and Ricoh football fundraising day was a huge success, not only for fundraising but also for the wellbeing of our employees and patients.

“It was a great day to see everyone join together from different areas of the company to strive to one goal which was raising money for St Andrew’s and having fun with the patients. We look forward to continuing to support the complex mental health charity in future endeavours.”

Dawn Wright, Voluntary Services Manager added: “Ricoh is an early adopter of our exciting new Voluntary Business Partnership programme and so we were very excited that they wanted to kick off our relationship with a fundraiser.

“Tying in with the Euros and our regular Friday Football, this made the football fundraiser even more special for our patients and myself and my team were thrilled to be involved. All of the efforts raised almost £400! We can’t wait to do it all again next year and in the meantime, Ricoh will be joining Friday Football each month. We very much looking forward to building our partnership further.

“Football plays a large part of our meaningful activity schedule for our patients, as we recognise it’s important they’re engaged in sport and exercise when they feel able to. The patients who regularly attend our Friday Football games have really benefitted as, not only are they improving their fitness, but they’ve had the opportunity to experience teamwork, and what it feels like to part of something they care about.”