A group of two-, three- and four-year -olds from Storytime Nursery have raised more than £1,800 for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

The children were inspired to raise funds to put guide puppies through training thanks to their daily contact with one of their parents who is a blind person and their guide dog.

Lisa Dancox, nursery manager and owner, said: ’One of our parents is registered blind so as a nursery we decided to do some fundraising of our own. We wanted to raise £300 to [sponsor] a class of puppies and put them through puppy school for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

’With our target set, we enrolled in the usual cake bake and dress like a dog day, but to put a twist on things we decided to hold a sponsored walk, blindfolded.’

Mrs Dancox explained that first the children were told what guide dogs do and why they are so important in providing assistance for every day tasks such as crossing the road and then asked them how they thought being blind would affect them.

The children were paired up with one of them blindfolded and the other working as their guide.

She added: ’Some were quite unsure about the whole blindfold thing, but we have great children, they trust us, so they were happy to do it.

In total, Storytime Nursery hse raised £1,827.40, enough to sponsor the three puppies, and allows the children the chance to name a puppy, receive a birth certificate and photos of the puppy.

Mrs Dancox concluded: ’All of the children embraced the whole morning and we had a very successful sponsored walk. The children’s ages were two, three and four years old. The fact that we had done something different, captured the children interest, along with all who donated and helped along the way.’