An 11-year-old boy was over the moon when he was able to see colours for the first time in his life.

Joseph Kay, 11, is colour blind and can only see black, white and grey.

But thanks to special glasses made by an American company, he was able to finally see colours.

“I tried them outside the first time and the first thing I saw was green from the grass, I was shocked at first but it was really good. I was very excited, but I had to ask what the different colours were called because I’d never seen them before.

“The best thing I saw was a sunset, I watched it from my bedroom window, it was beautiful.”

Dad Simon, 46, of Flimby, said Joseph had always been nonchalant about being colour blind, but more recently it started having a more detrimental effect on him. “He go upset a couple of times, we finally got to the bottom of it and he said he wanted to see colours.

“I got online and found these glasses, they were £100, but I would have spent five times as much, they made such a difference to Joseph.

“If you think about how transformational it was to go from black and white TVs to colour ones, you can only imagine what a difference to see the whole world going to colour. One thing I noticed is that since he got the glasses he gets tired really quickly, it must be a lot to process for him.”

Joseph’s younger siblings, Elsie and Isaac, were also excited for their brother. Being colour blind, meant Joseph, a Holm Cultram Abbey C of E school pupil, struggled to take part in certain activities and games, which use colours to identify teams, for example.

Simon said: "Despite being aware of his colour blindness all his life, there are still things you don't think about.

"One night I remember hearing a kerfuffle upstairs, Elsie was saying that Joseph had used her toothbrush. It never occurred to me that we identify them by the different colours, which he can't see, so he was just picking one."

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Joseph’s special glasses took a long time to be delivered. Simon said: “For two weeks he was waiting for the postman every single day.

“I would say to anyone who is colour blind to try them, it’s worth it to see the smile on Joseph’s face.”

Joseph said: “I’ve been wearing them all the time since I got them. I went back to school on Monday and everyone was happy for me.”