HUNDREDS of blind and partially-sighted people will benefit from a cycling marathon by one of the country's top eye surgeons and his wife.

Piers and Mary Percival have cycled more than 300 miles around the North York Moors National Park and East Yorkshire, and have already raised £1,000 through their 11-day marathon to aid the Jerusalem Eye Hospital.

"Some three million Palestinians completely depend on the St John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem and the Gaza clinic," said Mr Percival, who recently retired from Scarborough General Hospital.

The 80-bed hospital carries out 7,000 operations a year and its staff see 60,000 patients annually.

"It is one of the world's great hospitals," said Mr Percival.

He and his wife travelled from Beverley in the south, and north as far as Danby, taking in a large part of Ryedale.

They were given an enthusiastic welcome at Thornton-le-Dale, where residents packed the former grammar school to see a film on the hospital's work.

Anyone wanting to donate to the Percivals' appeal is asked to write to him at The Manor House, Hutton Buscel, Scarborough.