Those of us born before the mid-1980s will remember the Chernobyl disaster; a lot of us will have
been shocked at the events depicted in the recent TV drama series about it. However, the consequence
of it all, lives on. One area that suffered badly from the resulting nuclear fallout, and still does to this
day, is Belarus. What you probably don’t know is that the good people of our area play host every
year to parties of children from the towns and villages throughout Belarus. These children are sent
here by similar good people from their country to give them a breath of fresh air. They come from the
poorer backgrounds, sometimes trouble children or from broken homes. But, all in the position they
are as a result of the Chernobyl disaster.
West Kirby Sailing Club does a little bit to help entertain these lovely, lively kids by taking them
sailing, just one of the many activities arranged around their stay. Normally the Falcons are used to
give these kids an hour or twos adventure. Today I considered the wind to be a little bit to strong and
so we whizzed them round the lake in three of our ribs. A massive thank you to the team of volunteers
who stepped into the breach to help. Lynne Pengely, Graham Mcwhannel. Phil Hastain. our Bar
manager Matty (expert Rib driver) and club Chef extraordinaire, Alex.
These Children don’t speak our language. But our team is very talented as was shown when Phil, who
gave the safety briefing, spoke a few words of Russian to them. Well, he told me it was Russian.
They left us to go for lunch, left with a smile and to top it all off jumped into the water before they
left, just for good measure. Wherever they come from, kids are kids.
отличный день / A great day.
John Burthem
