Easingwold School Students Help Children

On Tuesday 9th September, during a special assembly, Year 8 students presented a cheque for nearly £330 to a charity which supports children affected by the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Students had raised the money last term through a variety of events, including a Mad Hair Day. Sixth Form students were also involved in fundraising activities. A group of 16 children aged eight to eleven spent a day at Easingwold School in June as part of a month-long stay in the UK provided by the charity Friends of Chernobyl’s Children. They were welcomed to the school in Russian by languages teacher Kirsty Fulford and head teacher Carey Chidwick before visiting Monk Park Farm, Bagby, and enjoying a variety of games and activities at the school. The day was organised by the school’s current head of Year 8, Liz Robinson, assisted by Year 10 students.Since the disaster over 20 years ago, when a reactor exploded in the town’s nuclear power station, the children of Chernobyl have been seriously affected by the radioactivity released into the environment. Many live in poverty and standards of medical care are much lower than those in the UK. The charity brings children from Chernobyl to the UK to spend a month living with a host family, breathing clean air and receiving medical care. Even such a short time away from their contaminated homeland can significantly improve their health and increase their life expectancy. It has been estimated that every month they spend here extends their lives by two years, and the charity tries to enable the children to visit for four consecutive years between the ages of eight and eleven to boost their immune systems.During today’s special assembly, Audrey Trewitt of Friends of Chernobyl’s Children thanked the students for their efforts. She explained that the charity needs approximately £500 to pay for each child to visit the UK, and that the money they had raised would pay for a new pair of properly fitting shoes for each child who visits next summer, many of whom will never have owned a new pair of shoes.


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