A Hornchurch girl who won a fireworks poster competition was invited to Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club last weekend.

Police in the borough worked with Havering Council’s community safety unit and the London Fire Brigade on the Design a Firework Poster competition for local schools.

Officers from the safer neighbourhood teams gave firework safety advice to pupils from the 32 schools that entered the competition, who were then invited to design their own poster about the Fireworks Code.

Dominika Pacholec, eight, from St Mary’s Catholic School, Hornchurch, won the competition, and her poster will be printed and adopted by the council and displayed throughout the borough.

She also won a pair of tickets to a football match at Dagenham and Redbeidge Football Club and was presented with a printed copy of her winning design along with a Dagenham and Redbridge shirt by the Daggers managing director Steve Thompson. PCSO Damien Williams of the Hacton Safer Neighbourhoods Team said: “This was a fantastic day and I know that Dominika and her family really enjoyed the match and the presentation ceremony.

“I would like to thank Dagenham and Redbridge both for sponsoring this initiative and for making everyone feel for welcome.”

The club’s community trust community liaison officer Teresa Parish said: “We have supported the Firework Poster competition for some years now and it is part of our community work in the area. A number of our fans live in the Havering so it is important that we support initiatives such as this.

“The club recognises that it is in a unique position within the community to reach out to young people and is proud of its tradition of being at the heart of the community.”