A GROUP of visually imp-aired and blind students from Worcester are preparing for the trip of a lifetime.

A total of 16 pupils from the city's RNIB New College in Whittington Road will be jetting out to Costa Rica on Friday, April 7 for 10 days.

There they will first spend four days working at a sanctuary for giant leatherback turtles north of Puerto Limn. The group will then go to Arenal - an active volcano - for a day, where they will visit geothermal pools. After that the group will stay with a Costa Rican family in a rural part of the country where they will be involved in a re-forestation project. Finally, they will retreat to the Pacific coastline, concluding their trip with a relaxing spell on the beach and walks in the forests. Geography teacher Stuart Snowdon said: "What this does is it gives the students a completely different experience to what they've been used to before.

"It's just the climate, the smells and the noises are all very different. A lot of our students can be excluded from things like adventure holidays because people are a bit worried about taking them, so by doing these we're saying to them 'you are able to do these things'." The trip is costing about £1,500 per person and now staff and students are getting down to the task of fund-raising.

Pupils made and sold Christmas cards to raise cash and are set to take part in a 24-hour sponsored swim at the college on Friday, February 3, and Saturday, February 4.

A country and western evening is also being held at Rushwick village hall on Saturday, January 28, featuring the band Duty Free and guests. The doors open at 7.15pm and tickets for the concert are £6 for adults and £3 for children.