KIND youngsters were moved to tears after seeing wheelchairs they raised cash to buy given to disabled people in Romania.

The handing over of the 28 wheelchairs to people in Pitesti, near Bucharest, was an emotional moment, said Bewdley rotarian, David Drackley.

Pupils at Bewdley High School raised a staggering £12,000 in 15 months to buy 280 wheelchairs for physically disabled people in the poverty-stricken country.

Five visited Pitesti last month. Mr Drackley said: "We had at least a couple of people in tears.

"The wheelchairs have given people mobility and we hope it will result in them finding useful employment.

"Without the wheelchairs, these people would not have been able to get around. We saw one guy who was carried on someone's shoulder."

The cash was raised between 2002 and 2004 by young people at Bewdley Interact Club, the youth division of the Rotary Club of Bewdley, which is based at the high school.

Sponsored walks, dances, auctions, bucket shakes and even a sponsored parachute jump helped raise the cash.

The money was pledged towards United States-based organisation, the Wheelchair Foundation, which doubled the amount.

The Bewdley teenagers, two of whom took time out from their university studies to make the trip, chose the country that would benefit from their fund-raising.

Mr Drackley said: "We are very proud of them."