A GROUP of children from pollution-ridden Belarus arrive in Settle this weekend for a four week visit which could add a year to their lives.

The youngsters, all aged between seven and nine, are either orphans or from single parent or very large families, and come from Mogilev in the former Soviet Union.

Their visit to North Craven gives their young immune systems a respite from the after-effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which will continue to affect their homeland for the next 24,000 years.

When a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in the Ukraine, exploded in April 1986, the prevailing winds blew the fall-out right to Belarus. Now everything is polluted, including soil, home grown food, animals and milk.

The Settle Friends of Chernobyl's Children began fundraising last June to make this trip possible, after Cara May, of Town Head Avenue, found out about work done by the charity.

Paediatricians have found that if the children, some of whom suffer severe deformities and many of whom have lost their parents to cancer caused by the Chernobyl disaster, can look forward to an extra year on their life expectancy by spending a month in Britain.

As it is, they are only expected to live for 30 years.

"Many children have been born malformed and handicapped. Those who have not been so unfortunate are still in great need: they do not have access to the right conditions for healthy growth and their immune systems are under enormous pressure. Many are being cared for by grandparents who are themselves struggling against ill health," explained Cara.

"I got in touch with the national co-ordinator of Friends of Chernobyl's Children and invited her to a meeting here and enough people were interested to go forward with it."

Since June there have been a host of fundraising events, and various organisations and individuals have donated cash - Giggleswick School held a jumble sale which raised almost £2,000 and the Monday Club which meets at Town Head Court also gave some money.

Settle Middle School pupils have collected suitable old clothes for the visitors, and lots of people are busy helping with the visit.

Each child is staying with a host family in Settle, with their interpretor, Irina, splitting her time between two families.

The police are letting the group use the old Settle courtroom as a base during the week, and retired teachers are giving up their time to care for the children on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

There are a number of different activities planned for afternoons, with Tuesdays spent at Giggleswick Primary School and Wednesdays cooking, while Thursdays will always be a full day out. Destinations include Skipton, Clapham and the Lake District.

Friday mornings will be spent at Settle Sewing Centre with Sue Martin and doing simple scientific work with Keith Hewitt. The children will also visit Settle Swimming Pool on Friday afternoons.

There will also be get-togethers at the Royal Oak and Harts Head, opportunities to visit a farm, go pony riding and to do art work. Russian students and speakers in the area are also helping out.

"We still need someone to donate vitamin pills for us to send the children back with, and fruit for them to eat during the day," said Cara."People are talking about doing this every year for five years. They can come until they are 12 so the ones which are seven now could come back every year for five years."

The group arrives at Heathrow tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon and will be met and driven to Settle to a small welcoming party.

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