PUB staff and customers put mind over matter when they walked across burning embers to help children suffering with cancer.

Eleven people from the Corner House pub in Burton Stone Lane, York, raised £1,000 for the Little Heroes charity by striding barefoot over red-hot coals.

A firewalking guru talked each of the volunteers through the challenge before inviting them to walk unharmed across the embers.

Licensee Stephen Price, 43, came up with the idea as several of his customers had been affected by childhood cancer.

He said: “It’s a simple case of mind over matter really.

“We all had a seminar to begin with to tell us about it and how to not concentrate on the pain. When we did it wasn’t too bad really until the last bit – I just tried not to think about it too much. It was the last stretch I really started to feel it – but not in a painful way. The hairs on my legs burned off and you could smell burning flesh but it was a brilliant feeling when you finished it. And it was all for a good cause.”

Visit littleheroes.org.uk for more information on the charity.