A St Albans charity which helps people living with HIV and AIDS is holding a fundraiser this weekend.

The Crescent on Russell Avenue provides support and care for people living with HIV, their partners, families and friends.

The event will be held on Saturday from 10am to 3pm at the front of the store.

First prize will be worth about £300, and then the two runner-up prizes will be worth about £100 and £50.

All money raised will go towards the charity, which is needed to pay for their testing services and running costs of their building, located on 19 Russell Avenue.

Wendy Seabrook, an employee at Boots who helps organise these events, said: "This is the third year we have helped them and last year we raised £500, which Boots matched with another £500, so they made £1000 in total.

"If we could actually go over £500 this time it would be amazing."

St Peter's Street Boots have helped many charities over the years including the A-T Society and Herts Young Homeless. Over the past 20 years they have raised about £75,000 in total.

The Crescent provides emotional and practical support in a confidential and non-clinical environment and through outreach services in a variety of settings. Services they provide includes free instant result HIV testing, chlamydia testing, emotional support, counselling, support groups, peer education, plus advice and signposting for a range of issues including housing, benefits, and immigration.

They used to receive funding from NHS Hertfordshire and Hertfordshire County Council until June 2010, and since then they have been entirely self-funded.

There were originally two HIV charities based in Hertfordshire, however the other - Herts Aid - closed down in June last year.

Ian Murtagh, project manager at The Crescent, said: "I'd like to thank Wendy and her team for their support.

"The support from the local people over the past nine to 10 years has been absolutely amazing, the amount of help we have received has been phenomenal."

For more information visit www.thecrescent.org.uk.