Football fans showed their generous side when they donated �2,000 in loose change to Beckton’s Richard House children’s hospice during a top-of-the-table home game at West Ham.

They filled the buckets taken round by an army of volunteers from the hospice in Beckton before and after last week’s match when they drew 1-1 with Southampton.

Many donated by text at half time after an appeal by Miss Commonwealth International, model Hayley Mac, who was accompanied by Miss Essex Syndey Fennings and Miss Teen Essex Sasha Wright.

Top scorer Mark Noble, who scored and is also a Richard House patron, said: “We are a family club and do what we can for the hospice.”

The seventh annual ‘charity awareness’ match raised enough for two children to stay a full weekend at the hospice, which supports 270 families with youngsters, many with life-threatening conditions.