SWINDON Academy presented a cheque for nearly £150 in donations from pupils to Swindon Guide Dogs at the school, in Beech Avenue, Pinehurst.

The School Council wanted to raise the cash after Alan Fletcher, the branch chairman, visited the school with his wife Shirley and guide dog Joy to talk about the charity.

School councillors gave out about 400 letters to pupils. The letter had a drawing of a guide dog and children were encouraged to collect change at home over a couple of weeks.

The money was taped to the dog picture and returned to the school.

Mr Fletcher, who is blind himself, returned to the academy with Shirley and Joy to collect the cheque for £144.96.

He said: “It’s nice for two things – it’s a nice thing we get the donations, first of all, but secondly it’s nice to get them from school children who then start to understand what a disability is and what something like Joy, being a guide dog, does for me.

“And of course it helps us with the money we need to raise to feed and pay for the vets’ bills for the guide dogs.”