PUPILS from Reid Street Primary School walked and climbed the equivalent of Mount Everest in aid of St Teresa's Hospice yesterday – and didn't even leave the school playground.

Young mathematicians worked out how many steps it would take Darlington's Steve Graham, who is climbing Everest for charity, to get to the top and back, and every pupil at the school trod the same amount of steps yesterday.

Mr Graham is climbing the seven summits – the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, raising money for the hospice and for prostate cancer research – and Everest is his next challenge.

Reid Street head Paula Ayto said: "The whole school was fascinated to hear from Steve about his challenges so far. "

She said all pupils took part in the sponsored event yesterday, while Morrisons had agreed to match-fund sponsorship for one of the members of staff.

Ms Ayto added: "We look forward to following Steve's progress over the next few months and we will be holding more fundraising events over that time too."

Pupils also had a go on a climbing wall to give a flavour of the arduous climb to the top of Mount Everest.