742 Newsletter 12th Ann 23/2/07 09:59 Page 1 SPECIAL CLASS AT SCHOOL NO. 5 This is a wonderful special school in Gomel which we have supported for several years. When the Education department expressed an interest in trying to integrate more physically disabled children into school we decided that School No. 5 would be the best place to start. We brought the Head Teacher on an educational visit to Britain; persuaded the health department to pay for a neurologist to act as consultant for all the children in the school; put in ramps, disabled toilets, doors and carpets and sent out a minibus, which was bought for us by the Celebrities Guild of Great Britain. From September 2004 a small class was set up for five children in wheelchairs and they have developed beyond all recognition. Kinder House, Fitzalan Street, Glossop, SK13 7DL Tel: 01457 863534 / 862112 E-mail: [email protected] REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 1059832 For the first year we funded a classroom assistant until the education department took this over. And we continue to fund the driver and run the minibus. During the Summer of 2007 we plan to further improve the access within the school so that more children in wheelchairs can be integrated. We also fund a specialist teacher who works with children throughout the school and send regular deliveries of aid supplied by Winnie Morley in Leeds. We are very grateful to all the individual donors, businesses, local authorities, church and peace groups, our own group co-ordinators and host families, convoy drivers, sanatorium volunteers and professionals who have given so much time, energy and financial support to the children of Belarus. Special thanks to Sandy McLaren who has done such a great job as our treasurer for almost the whole 12 years. And of course, to KeyMed whose support never ceases to Luke Calcraft, KeyMed Director amaze us. LOCAL CONTACTS Aberystwyth: Galina Latypova Alsager & Crewe: Georgina Greenhalgh Blantyre: Ellen Charlton Bromley & N. Kent: Liz & Paul Hodgson Buxton & Longnor: Barbara Cox Caerphilly: Debbie Batten Carmarthen: Jean Williams Catterick: Jason Living Craven: Bob Hodgson Dales: Christine Haswell Endon & Stoke: John & Julie Gater 01974 241079 01270 214521 01698 826133 0208 462 7925 01298 83225 07740 051762 01267 275222 07801 414813 07732 661739 01748 833049 01782 535000 Gloucester & Cheltenham: John Crampin Glossop: Mags Whiting Leeds: Harold Bowden or Jacqueline Hooton Liverpool: Marion Stoddart Llandinam & Newtown: Roger Locke London: Pat Allen Lunesdale: Harold & Lynne Jackson Market Rasen: Kayte Howell Mid Essex: Keith Plaister Monk Fryston: Paula Spencer 01242 521318 01457 865805 0113 293 1633 0113 247 5744 0151 284 7132 01686 624229 0208 533 5838 01524 64743 01652 679161 01245 472262 01977 682506 Newark & Retford: Jan Baxter Rugby: Pat Brown Sleaford: Sean Gurney Solihull: Catherine McElholm Southend: Caren Rowson South Manchester: Glynis Sandwith Taunton Deane : David Crisp Teesdale: John Lowles Totnes: Liz Mitchell Vale of Evesham: Jenny Powis West Pennine: Mai Chatham 01636 676545 01788 567998 01529 309387 0121 705 6724 01702 463395 07765 641297 01823 432892 01833 640190 01803 866993 01386 792909 01706 379318 National Co-ordinator: Linda Walker 01457 863534/862112 or 07976 653610 Aid Co-ordinator: Mike Allison 01977 684632 National Treasurer: Sandy McLaren 01457 854496 Groups Co-ordinator: Julie Gater 07816 842322 Trustees: Mags Whiting 01457 865805 John Gater 01782 535000 Mike Allison 01977 684632 Harold Bowden 0113 293 1633 Consultants: Dr. Marie Owen - Consultant Paediatrician; Peter Marks - Pharmacist; Sue Carlyon - Disability Specialist; Pat Marsh - Respite Care Adviser; Jean Holt - Foster Care Adviser; Geoff Wright - Child Care Officer; Ian Fairlie: Consultant on Radiation in the Environment; David Walker - Building Projects Manager. Published by Chernobyl Children’s Project (UK) Registered Charity No.1059832. A non profit making company, limited by guarantee Registration No.3220045 (England & Wales) Registered Office: Kinder House, Fitzalan Street, Glossop, Derbyshire SK13 7DL PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.chernobyl-children.org.uk SECURE DONATIONS CAN BE MADE ONLINE Designed and printed by KeyMed in support of Chernobyl Children’s Project www.chernobyl-children.org.uk SPRING 2007 Our First Twelve Years On January 20th 1995 Chernobyl Children’s Project was launched in the UK by the Lord Mayor of Manchester. Within days two groups were launched - in Glossopdale, Derbyshire and Littleborough in Lancashire and planning began in earnest for our first groups of children to arrive from Belarus. We took our first reconditioned ambulance to Belarus in the Spring of 1995; brought our first group of children for a holiday that Summer; and by the Autumn we were able to fill a forty foot trailer with aid and deliver this to Belarus. Our aid programme has grown dramatically over the years, and we now take four convoys a year to Belarus. In Britain we have about 30 groups who between them invite over three hundred children each Summer for recuperative holidays. In April 1996 we joined forces with Manchester City Council to organise a commemorative event on the Tenth Anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. For the 20th Anniversary in 2006 we brought a wonderful children’s folk dance group ‘Ternichka’ to perform in Britain. And we joined forces with many other Chernobyl charities, setting up a ‘Remember Chernobyl’ website and organising projects and promoting events around the country to raise awareness about the ongoing effects of the disaster, particularly amongst the children of Belarus. This was so effective that we decided to continue working together and to organise a joint conference in 2007. Since 1996 CCP(UK) has always held an Annual Conference to which all other Chernobyl charities are invited. This has usually taken place in Leeds Civic Hall and we are very grateful to the City Council for all their support, not only at conference time but all year round for our group in Leeds. In the Spring of 1997 our work in Belarus was recognised when Linda Walker was one of the first foreigners to be made a member of the Order of Franciska Skarina, one of the country’s highest awards. In 2006 Linda received an MBE. Both awards were accepted on behalf of everyone involved with the work of CCP(UK). We work closely in Minsk with the children’s cancer charity ‘Children in Trouble’ and with the Belarusian Children’s Hospice. Most of our work is in the Gomel Region, the most contaminated part of the country. We have a wonderful team who organise everything for us there - selecting and preparing children for holidays, receiving aid and supervising all our projects. In 2006 we and our colleagues in Gomel were registered in Belarus as an international charity, under the name ‘Supporting Children Together’. In 2004 we were approached by Ticktock Media to write a book about a teenager whose life had been profoundly affected by Chernobyl. We chose Ira who we had known for many years at Zhuravichi Children’s Home and who we had recently helped to move on to a school for children with physical disabilities. Ira’s moving story was published in 2005 and proved so popular with school students and host families that it was reprinted a year later. Much of our work in Belarus focuses on raising the level of opportunities for children and young people with disabilities. All our projects are outlined here, but you can read more about them and find pictures of the children we support on our website www.chernobyl-children.org.uk 742 Newsletter 12th Ann 23/2/07 09:59 Page 3 RECUPERATIVE HOLIDAYS HOLIDAYS IN BELARUS Our first group of 38 children arrived at Gatwick Airport in July 1995 and came to spend a four week holiday in Glossopdale and Littleborough. Fantastic help and support was given by the local communities, and both the children and the host families had a wonderful time. Our first holiday at a sanatorium, or holiday camp, in Belarus took place in the Summer of 1998. We arranged for fifty children from Zhuravichi Boarding Home and fifty from Garadyets Special School who had never had the chance of a holiday before, to travel to a holiday camp in a beautiful part of the country. Volunteers flew out to work with the children and make sure they had a great time. Carers from Zhuravichi were able to see that the children were capable of doing much more than they had ever thought possible, and the children had the most memorable experience of their lives. By the Spring of 1996 we had set up new groups in Lancaster, Merseyside, Cardiff, South Lakes, Alsager and Evesham. We were able to invite 150 children for the summer visit, so we chartered our first plane into Manchester Airport. Most of the children were once again from village schools but we included two teenagers who were in remission from cancer. We had been anxious about taking children who had been seriously ill but everything went fine with Natasha and Anton’s visit. In May 1997 we brought our first group of young children in remission from cancer with their mothers. Children in Trouble had told us that there were many very young children becoming ill and once they were well enough to travel they were still too young to go abroad alone. Also their mums had been through such a stressful time they were almost as much in need of a holiday as the children. All involved found it a wonderful experience and the mothers pronounced the holiday ‘A Dream Come True’. We have since hosted many groups of children under 8 and their mums, with our groups in Glossop, Alsager, Evesham and Teesdale. Two of our newest groups, in Newark and South Manchester also host young children with cancer and their mothers and Sleaford, Southend and Totnes offer holidays to young disabled children also travelling with their mothers. Over Christmas and New Year our Buxton and Longnor group hosts five year olds from Children in Trouble By 1998 we had thirty groups around the country, nearly all of them hosting children in the Summer. Children from Uvaravichi School stayed in Lancaster and Monk Fryston; Gloucester took children from the village school in Yurovichi; Korma School children went to Catterick; and Hoiniki School No 2 sent children to Devon, and later to Llandinam in Mid Wales. Our Endon and Stoke group for the last 10 years have not only brought a group of young children from Veletin School but have invited 18 teenagers in remission from cancer, These young people initially all stayed together at Cicely Haughton School in the Staffordshire Moorlands for the whole holiday and the group organised a varied and exciting programme of events for them. In recent years these 16 to 18 year olds have stayed with families for part of the visit and enjoyed the whole experience even more. In 2006 many of the young people who had visited Endon in recent years came together in Minsk to remember their holiday and say thank you to John and Julie Gater. Groups in Leeds, West Pennine, Blantyre, Carmarthen and Aberystywth have also hosted children and teenagers in remission. The Aberystwyth group hosted 18 year olds for the first time in 2006 and found it a very rewarding experience. In most cases these young people have never had a holiday abroad before and the experience provides a great psychological boost which is almost as important for their future well being as the physical improvement to their health of the fresh air and clean food. Mid Essex have a long standing link with the Terekhovka Centre, from where they take about 18 children every Summer. Solihull in recent years have taken teenagers from Svetlagorsk Orphanage, helping to give them a boost in health and confidence before they move on to college or work. Every Summer we charter a plane into Birmingham Airport and before the advent of weekly summer Belavia flights into Manchester we chartered a plane there too. Both airports have been wonderfully supportive as have Servisair, Aviance and Alpha Catering. We are also grateful for the help and co-operation of Belavia’s manager Yuri Sobolev. It was such a success that we have arranged a holiday every Summer for children from Zhuravichi, and in recent years they have been accompanied by the children without parents who live at Rechitsa Boarding School The children are given the opportunity to paint, draw, cut and paste, make masks, play ball games, have races, watch films and live performances, take part in discos and from time to time to have the one to one attention which is just not possible at Zhuravichi. Many wonderful volunteers medical students, physiotherapists, teachers, early years workers and many others - have raised their air fares and then given two weeks of hard work. The holidays have been a life changing experience not just for the children - who think about them all year round - but for some of the volunteers who have changed their career plans as a result of the time they have spent with the Zhuravichi children. In 2005 we also sponsored a holiday at a sanatorium for six profoundly physically disabled young adults and their mums. And the following year we provided holidays for 60 disabled young adults, mostly living in institutions. We support a group of young adults in wheelchairs who live at home with their parents. They have had few opportunities to get out and now they meet together at the Mayflower Centre every Sunday. In 2006 we enabled them to have a holiday which one young man later told us was something that they did not just think about every day, they dreamed about it every night. We have been able to organise this holiday every summer, with the help of our biggest supporters, the medical equipment company, KeyMed. They have also donated wonderful endoscopic equipment to hospitals in Belarus; funded the salaries of many of the staff we employ there and printed for free our calendars, cards and newsletters. SUPPORTING CHILDREN WITH DIABETES We have worked closely with the Diabetic Association in Gomel for many years. Every Summer a group of their children come to stay with our Buxton and Longnor group and we regularly send aid to the association. Stuart Bootle is a doctor specialising in diabetic care who supports the children on their visits to the UK. In 2005 he visited Gomel to talk with members of the association and the doctors who were treating their children. As a result of this visit, the Buxton group raised £10,000 the following year to buy test strips and needles for children in Gomel. Then Stuart - working with George Romanov, the chief endocrinologist in Gomel, who accompanies the children to Britain each Summer - set up a programme to ensure that everyone in Gomel Region with Type 1 Diabetes will get at least one ‘HBa1C’ test this year, something which would happen routinely every three months in the UK. This will cost a total of £16,000 but we hope it will significantly improve the care of children and young people in Gomel Region. The Buxton group began fund raising for this in late 2006 and we received more than £2,000 following an Appeal by the Bishop of Sheffield. We hope that Diabetic Associations in Britain will support this initiative. 742 Newsletter 12th Ann 23/2/07 10:00 Page 5 ZHURAVICHI BOARDING HOME RODNI KUT Zhuravichi is hidden deep in the countryside in the north of Gomel Region and initially it took us many months to track down the home where the most disabled children are sent when they leave the Abandoned Babies Home in Gomel. When we first visited Zhuravichi there were few toys, most of the children did not receive any education and many of them spent all their lives confined to a cot. In 2001 we brought Anya and Anton from Zhuravichi for a holiday in Devon and West Wales. Anya had severe cerebral palsy and Anton was blind and very weak. They had a wonderful holiday and developed beyond recognition in a couple of months. We felt we could not send the children back to Zhuravichi after such a taste of family life, so we managed to get them into a rehabilitation centre in Minsk for several months in between trips to Britain. And we brought over three other children - Stas and Nazar from Zhuravichi who both have cerebral palsy and Ira, who came from the Abandoned Babies Home. Ira was very bright but had been born with a cleft palate, missing fingers and severely deformed feet almost certainly as a result of Chernobyl. The children’s disabilities range from Downs Syndrome to profound learning difficulties, and many of the children have severe physical disabilities too. There are currently about 150 children living in the home plus around 80 young adults who will stay there till they are 30. As well as providing the holiday every Summer we have: • brought some of the staff to Britain on training visits • delivered a great deal of aid, including mobility equipment and put in a playground • specialist volunteers have spent time there working with the children and staff • we have prevailed upon those in authority in Gomel to involve most of the children in classes • we have helped to get some of the children re-assessed and moved to more appropriate institutions • we sponsor the salary of an extra carer to look after the children who spend most of their lives in a cot • we fund extra hours for teachers to work with teenagers and young adults with profound learning difficulties As the care and education of children at Zhuravichi improved we began to worry about some of the young people who left the home at 18 and went on to adult institutions. FAMILY HOME 2000 In 2000 we were given part of a kindergarten by the Social Protection Department and we turned it into a well equipped comfortable home for Sasha, a young man with paralysed legs, Liena, who has spina bifida and Greesha, who has severe cerebral palsy. They had all grown up at Zhuravichi where they had never had the chance of an education and had never been allowed to make decisions about anything. In Family Home 2000 at Klimovka they learned to read, to cook and to look after themselves. A small team of carers worked on a rota, acting as mothers, friends and teachers to the young people, helping them to learn to make decisions for themselves. Within a few months they were joined by Sveta who had been educated at Rechitsa Boarding School, but had nowhere to live when she finished school. Her disability is not so severe as the others and Sveta was able to attend secretarial college and then become a valuable member of staff at our Respite Care Centre. Greesha spends much of his time making cards - for Christmas and Birthdays. Jim Caveen in Gloucester prepares second hand cards and pre-cut card to back them onto, and Greesha puts them together. We bring some of them to Britain to sell, and others are sold in Gomel. One of the FH2000 carers also runs the local library, where we installed ramps and wider doors so Liena could give lessons there in crochet and needlework skills. When Liena first came to Klimovka she was totally lacking in confidence about her ability to do anything. To be able to pass on her skills to others has been a huge boost to her self esteem. Sasha longed for a greater degree of independence than Family Home 2000 could give him and eventually decided that he was happier in a different environment with more people around him. Anya came from Rechitsa in 2005 to spend a couple of years at Klimovka helping her to move towards independence And Valya, an 18 year old orphan who has a brain tumour, has been spending time with the young people at Klimovka, learning to cook and to improve her confidence. In the Summer of 2002 we bought a house in Rogachev; put in a bathroom and ramps and made it comfortable; found a wonderful man, Sergei, to be the official guardian of the children; and employed a group of very caring women to be the children’s ‘aunties’. At the beginning of 2003 the children moved in to Rodni Kut (Cosy Corner) and they have been very happy there. They have regular visits from physiotherapists and teachers and they take part in all the parties and picnics at the Rogachev Families Association. They all have families in Britain who love them and they spend some time here each year. Many families have helped to fund the children’s care and Friends of Chernobyl’s Children in Driffield and The Eucalyptus Trust have given us very generous donations. And Ira had her feet removed at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and is very proud of her prosthetic legs, on which she plays football and never tires of running around. MAYFLOWER CENTRE For those families who have kept their disabled children at home, life is hard. Severely disabled children do not go to school, so the parents, often a single mother, have to care for them twenty four hours a day, 365 days a year. When we brought senior members of the Education and Social Protection Departments to Britain on an Educational visit in Autumn 2002, they were so impressed with a respite care centre they visited in Leeds that we decided this should be our next project. Social Protection gave us a large ground floor space in a Kindergarten; Barney McElholm through his Solihull company Elegant Homes Ltd, funded and organised much of the building work; professionals from special schools and Manchester Disabled Children’s Team helped us to interview for the staff; and on 1st July 2004 the first group of six children came to stay at The Mayflower while their parents had a much needed rest. The Centre was later officially opened by the British Ambassador, Brian Bennett. Natasha, the manager, and several members of staff have been to the UK to spend time in respite centres, particularly Woodlands in Manchester, which is run by the ‘Together Trust’. Its manager Pat Marsh acts as consultant to the Mayflower and has visited Gomel several times to share her knowledge. The Centre supports about forty families with regular stays and many more with occasional visits. The children enjoy wonderful food, plenty of one to one attention and are helped to take part in craft activities and to put on small performances for visitors. A playground has recently been bought for the younger children with the support of Rotary Clubs in Pitlochrie and Aberfeldy and also the Friends of Chernobyl Children in Driffield. We are responsible for most of the funding of the Centre, and Susan Young, our Mayflower Families Co-ordinator, has been promoting support from groups and individuals in Britain and matching them up with the families they are sponsoring. 742 Newsletter 12th Ann 23/2/07 10:00 Page 7 FOSTER CARE TRAINING PROGRAMME HUMANITARIAN AID DELIVERIES It was in January 2000 that Jean Holt first visited Belarus. She had been the manager of a Children’s Home, a Family Placement Officer and was experienced in training. By April that year Jean had initiated a training programme in Gomel and we were awarded a three year grant by the Department for International Development. This has been followed by regular annual grants from the British Embassy in Minsk. Jean has led or co-ordinated dozens of week long training sessions with the support of a team of social work professionals, mostly from Leeds and North Yorkshire. Directors and staff from Orphanages, Children’s Shelters and Social Centres throughout Gomel Region have benefited from these training sessions. This has resulted in more children being fostered into local families in this region than any other part of Belarus and has also helped to change the way staff work with the children from the orphanages. In April 1995 we bought our first ambulance and Mags and Ken Whiting of Glossop agreed to drive it out to Belarus with an Irish convoy. From the day they arrived in Belarus Mags and Ken became committed and crucial members of the charity, going on to drive five more ambulances, lead four convoys and be an important part of all our work. A training programme at the Home for Abandoned Babies - followed by a visit the UK for some of its senior staff, including the chief carer Tatiana - has helped to transform the home into a much happier, brighter and more caring environment for the children. The Children’s Department of the Psychiatric Hospital in Gomel has benefited from training and from visits to the UK. A team of psychiatric and child care professionals will be working with the department in 2007 and beyond. And practical support for the hospital, particularly play equipment, has been provided with funding from Chernobyl Children Outreach in Walton on Thames. There is still a great demand for training and we are currently embarking on a joint project with an Italian charity ‘Forum’ to establish a ‘Leaving Care’ programme, supporting young people as they move on form the orphanages. CHILDREN’S HOSPICE CARE In 1998 we first met Anna Gorchakova, the driving force behind the development of palliative care in Belarus. Anna had set up the first Children’s Hospice in the country in 1994 and had built up a wonderful team of staff around her. They were supporting about fifty families with children in the last stages of cancer or with chronic disabilities, mostly in and around Minsk. We decided that we would like to help to set up hospice care in other parts of the country and in 2000 with haematologist Igor Iscrov we established Gomel Home Hospice Team. We have since provided support to set up a small Hospice in Vitebsk and other charities have channelled support through us to fund Outreach Nurses in Mozyr, Zhlobin and Pinsk. After Anna came to speak at a Belarussian Embassy Conference in 2003 an Irish charity helped to set up a Hospice in Mogilev. Hospice Care in Gomel was re-organised in 2005 with Irish charities taking on the support of the regional hospice serving the outlying towns and villages. We set up a Palliative Care Team to work in the city. Paediatrician Olga Semenyaka (below) and her team supported 12 families in 2006, but their work is now being expanded with a grant from Greenpeace Environmental Trust. Our first articulated lorry load of aid went to Belarus in Autumn 1995, after being packed and loaded in our warehouse just outside Glossop. When we lost this warehouse in 1999 the focus of our aid collection moved to Selby in Yorkshire. We bought out own 38 ton truck, under the guidance of John Gater and we were given a seven and a half ton truck by Women’s Aid for Peace. Mike Allison became heavily involved with the collection and delivery of aid and the following year he took over all the paperwork and planning for the aid trips as well as the intensive physical work of collecting aid from various parts of the country, storing and sorting it in the warehouse at Selby and organising the loading teams for each trailer. By this stage we were taking four aid deliveries every year of two or three large lorries and a seven and a half ton truck donated to us by KeyMed. In recent years as the volume of aid and the number of convoys increased we have had generous regular support from many individuals and companies. We are particularly grateful for the support of David Campey for providing warehouse space for us and also units for many convoys; Paul Campey, a regular team member, for his generosity in maintaining our vehicles; Ian Lacey of Burton on Trent who has provided and driven his own truck to Belarus on 10 occasions; and Linpac of Featherstone who have provided free parking for our vehicles and whose staff have raised funds to support the convoys. We have a superb team of loaders, packers and drivers including regular support from the staff at O2 and members of our groups, particularly Buxton & Longnor, Endon & Stoke, Lancaster and Catterick. There is still a great demand for aid from schools, children’s homes, family associations and social services centres. And we are now being given more aid than ever before, much of it brand new and in large quantities such as palettes of paint, paper and exercise books and cleaning materials. VIKOV HOME FOR DISABLED ADULTS Many of the most disabled young people who leave Zhuravichi go to Vikov, an institution hidden deep in the forest just outside Rogachev which is home to around two hundred adults with learning difficulties or mental health problems. The staff at Vikov have neither the time nor the knowledge to be able to occupy the more disabled and autistic young people. We have been employing a teacher there since 2004. Natasha, who worked there first, painted cheerful pictures on the wall and encouraged the young people to draw and play with the toys we supply. When Natasha moved on, Ludmilla took her place working throughout the week, and Svetlana, a specialist in working with disabled children, spends Saturdays at Vikov, acting as a consultant. SUPPORTING CHILDREN WITH CANCER We have brought a number of hospice nurses and doctors to the UK to spend time with Macmillan Nurses and visit Hospices in Britain. And palliative care specialists have visited Belarus to offer advice and training. Much of this has been sponsored by the Victor Zorza Hospice Trust. KeyMed have also provided generous support for the Hospices as they have for so many of our projects. We have worked closely with ‘Children in Trouble’ for many years, inviting children through them, taking them humanitarian aid and helping with their ongoing costs. We often receive an SOS from them to say that the Children’s Cancer Hospital is in desperate need of a medicine which is not available in Belarus. There may be a child who needs a bone marrow transplant and cannot have it without this medication. These drugs can be very expensive but we always try to respond if we can. In 2003 the Belarusian Children’s Hospice decided that they needed to own their own premises and Sam Lupton, one of our most generous benefactors, donated £8,000 towards the purchase of the house which has been turned into a beautiful hospice. The Hospice was the main focus of fund raising for the ‘Remember Chernobyl’ campaign and our contribution was to buy a minibus for the Hospice in Minsk which was delivered in November 2006. Life can be very boring for children and teenagers being treated for a long period in hospital. So Ira at Children in Trouble organises outings for them, taking them into Minsk to the cinema, theatre or circus. We also provide some support to the poorest families while they are staying in hospital and to some of the orphans. 742 Newsletter 12th Ann 23/2/07 09:59 Page 1 SPECIAL CLASS AT SCHOOL NO. 5 This is a wonderful special school in Gomel which we have supported for several years. When the Education department expressed an interest in trying to integrate more physically disabled children into school we decided that School No. 5 would be the best place to start. We brought the Head Teacher on an educational visit to Britain; persuaded the health department to pay for a neurologist to act as consultant for all the children in the school; put in ramps, disabled toilets, doors and carpets and sent out a minibus, which was bought for us by the Celebrities Guild of Great Britain. From September 2004 a small class was set up for five children in wheelchairs and they have developed beyond all recognition. Kinder House, Fitzalan Street, Glossop, SK13 7DL Tel: 01457 863534 / 862112 E-mail: [email protected] REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 1059832 For the first year we funded a classroom assistant until the education department took this over. And we continue to fund the driver and run the minibus. During the Summer of 2007 we plan to further improve the access within the school so that more children in wheelchairs can be integrated. We also fund a specialist teacher who works with children throughout the school and send regular deliveries of aid supplied by Winnie Morley in Leeds. We are very grateful to all the individual donors, businesses, local authorities, church and peace groups, our own group co-ordinators and host families, convoy drivers, sanatorium volunteers and professionals who have given so much time, energy and financial support to the children of Belarus. Special thanks to Sandy McLaren who has done such a great job as our treasurer for almost the whole 12 years. And of course, to KeyMed whose support never ceases to Luke Calcraft, KeyMed Director amaze us. LOCAL CONTACTS Aberystwyth: Galina Latypova Alsager & Crewe: Georgina Greenhalgh Blantyre: Ellen Charlton Bromley & N. Kent: Liz & Paul Hodgson Buxton & Longnor: Barbara Cox Caerphilly: Debbie Batten Carmarthen: Jean Williams Catterick: Jason Living Craven: Bob Hodgson Dales: Christine Haswell Endon & Stoke: John & Julie Gater 01974 241079 01270 214521 01698 826133 0208 462 7925 01298 83225 07740 051762 01267 275222 07801 414813 07732 661739 01748 833049 01782 535000 Gloucester & Cheltenham: John Crampin Glossop: Mags Whiting Leeds: Harold Bowden or Jacqueline Hooton Liverpool: Marion Stoddart Llandinam & Newtown: Roger Locke London: Pat Allen Lunesdale: Harold & Lynne Jackson Market Rasen: Kayte Howell Mid Essex: Keith Plaister Monk Fryston: Paula Spencer 01242 521318 01457 865805 0113 293 1633 0113 247 5744 0151 284 7132 01686 624229 0208 533 5838 01524 64743 01652 679161 01245 472262 01977 682506 Newark & Retford: Jan Baxter Rugby: Pat Brown Sleaford: Sean Gurney Solihull: Catherine McElholm Southend: Caren Rowson South Manchester: Glynis Sandwith Taunton Deane : David Crisp Teesdale: John Lowles Totnes: Liz Mitchell Vale of Evesham: Jenny Powis West Pennine: Mai Chatham 01636 676545 01788 567998 01529 309387 0121 705 6724 01702 463395 07765 641297 01823 432892 01833 640190 01803 866993 01386 792909 01706 379318 National Co-ordinator: Linda Walker 01457 863534/862112 or 07976 653610 Aid Co-ordinator: Mike Allison 01977 684632 National Treasurer: Sandy McLaren 01457 854496 Groups Co-ordinator: Julie Gater 07816 842322 Trustees: Mags Whiting 01457 865805 John Gater 01782 535000 Mike Allison 01977 684632 Harold Bowden 0113 293 1633 Consultants: Dr. Marie Owen - Consultant Paediatrician; Peter Marks - Pharmacist; Sue Carlyon - Disability Specialist; Pat Marsh - Respite Care Adviser; Jean Holt - Foster Care Adviser; Geoff Wright - Child Care Officer; Ian Fairlie: Consultant on Radiation in the Environment; David Walker - Building Projects Manager. Published by Chernobyl Children’s Project (UK) Registered Charity No.1059832. A non profit making company, limited by guarantee Registration No.3220045 (England & Wales) Registered Office: Kinder House, Fitzalan Street, Glossop, Derbyshire SK13 7DL PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.chernobyl-children.org.uk SECURE DONATIONS CAN BE MADE ONLINE Designed and printed by KeyMed in support of Chernobyl Children’s Project www.chernobyl-children.org.uk SPRING 2007 Our First Twelve Years On January 20th 1995 Chernobyl Children’s Project was launched in the UK by the Lord Mayor of Manchester. Within days two groups were launched - in Glossopdale, Derbyshire and Littleborough in Lancashire and planning began in earnest for our first groups of children to arrive from Belarus. We took our first reconditioned ambulance to Belarus in the Spring of 1995; brought our first group of children for a holiday that Summer; and by the Autumn we were able to fill a forty foot trailer with aid and deliver this to Belarus. Our aid programme has grown dramatically over the years, and we now take four convoys a year to Belarus. In Britain we have about 30 groups who between them invite over three hundred children each Summer for recuperative holidays. In April 1996 we joined forces with Manchester City Council to organise a commemorative event on the Tenth Anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. For the 20th Anniversary in 2006 we brought a wonderful children’s folk dance group ‘Ternichka’ to perform in Britain. And we joined forces with many other Chernobyl charities, setting up a ‘Remember Chernobyl’ website and organising projects and promoting events around the country to raise awareness about the ongoing effects of the disaster, particularly amongst the children of Belarus. This was so effective that we decided to continue working together and to organise a joint conference in 2007. Since 1996 CCP(UK) has always held an Annual Conference to which all other Chernobyl charities are invited. This has usually taken place in Leeds Civic Hall and we are very grateful to the City Council for all their support, not only at conference time but all year round for our group in Leeds. In the Spring of 1997 our work in Belarus was recognised when Linda Walker was one of the first foreigners to be made a member of the Order of Franciska Skarina, one of the country’s highest awards. In 2006 Linda received an MBE. Both awards were accepted on behalf of everyone involved with the work of CCP(UK). We work closely in Minsk with the children’s cancer charity ‘Children in Trouble’ and with the Belarusian Children’s Hospice. Most of our work is in the Gomel Region, the most contaminated part of the country. We have a wonderful team who organise everything for us there - selecting and preparing children for holidays, receiving aid and supervising all our projects. In 2006 we and our colleagues in Gomel were registered in Belarus as an international charity, under the name ‘Supporting Children Together’. In 2004 we were approached by Ticktock Media to write a book about a teenager whose life had been profoundly affected by Chernobyl. We chose Ira who we had known for many years at Zhuravichi Children’s Home and who we had recently helped to move on to a school for children with physical disabilities. Ira’s moving story was published in 2005 and proved so popular with school students and host families that it was reprinted a year later. Much of our work in Belarus focuses on raising the level of opportunities for children and young people with disabilities. All our projects are outlined here, but you can read more about them and find pictures of the children we support on our website www.chernobyl-children.org.uk