PARTIALLY-sighted Felixstowe teenager Nicole Lindsay has a great gift to take back to her friends at school – a swing seat for them to relax on this summer.

PARTIALLY-sighted Felixstowe teenager Nicole Lindsay has a great gift to take back to her friends at school - a swing seat for them to relax on this summer.

The garden swing seat has been donated to her boarding school by Ipswich and Norwich Co-operative Society after a plea for help from the teenager's mum, Julie Lindsay.

After visiting the school, which is run by the Royal National Institute for the Blind charity, she realised that the youngsters didn't have many outdoor facilities - and the school had little spare cash to spend on extras.

She contacted the Co-op to see if the company would help with fundraising and the directors were more than happy to donate the swing seat and help such a worthy cause.

"Nicole is doing her GCSEs and after all day in the classroom the youngsters like to sit outside to relax or read but they had nowhere comfortable. The school only had a small amount of funds so we thought we would see if we could do something, and the Co-op's help has been fantastic," she said.

Nicole's dad Ian Rumsey is to buy a paddling pool for the school and so the students will be able to make the most of the fine weather this summer.

Nicole, who has a sister Bethany, seven, and brother James, three, has had sight problems since she was born. Her main problem is retinal birthmarks, but she does have some vision.

After not settling in mainstream school, she gained a place at the RNIB New College school in Worcester, where she is getting specialist teaching which caters for her needs. She learns flute and piano, languages and all curriculum subjects, as well as life skills, such as shopping, cooking and ironing to improve her independence. She is also determined to go on to university.