PUPILS have tested their ability to perform tasks without being able to see, as part of a drive to raise awareness of issues disabled people face.

Thirsk School’s Year Nine students played games of blind and mute football and performed a sponsored support, where one pupil in a pair was blindfolded.

A school spokeswoman said the students had been inspired by the Giving Nations initiative, which challenges youngsters to become social entrepreneurs, fundraisers, campaigners and volunteers for charities and good causes.

She said: “They have been using their skill, imagination and the help of their classmates to develop mini-charity projects to reach out and benefit the wider community.”

She said one group, which decided to try to improve people’s understanding of what people with disabilities experience, had also performed live music in the playground at lunchtime and created an eye out of copper coins, raising £180 for deafblindness charity Sense.