South Ayrshire Provost Winifred Sloan welcomed a group of twenty children from Chernobyl, who are visiting Ayrshire for a month, to a special reception within the County Buildings in Ayr.

The visit was organised by the Ayrshire Link of the Chernobyl Lifeline, which was formed in direct response to the Chernobyl nuclear power station accident that happened 1986, putting millions of children at high risk of cancer or leukaemia. The organisation is run by volunteers and is dedicated to raising funds to bring children from Chernobyl to Scotland.

The 20 children, aged from eight to twelve years of age, and three adult supervisors arrived in Scotland on 5 February 2006. They will all be staying with Ayrshire families until 5 March 2006.

During their stay the children will receive essential health checks, dental treatment, eye tests and take part in a programme of fun events that have been organised for them.

Speaking about the visit Provost Sloan said: "It was a great pleasure to meet the children, and to welcome them to South Ayrshire. They have been through so much during their young lives, and schools, voluntary organisations, businesses, and local residents have opened their hearts to the children and are working together to make the visit to Scotland as memorable as possible.

"P4 to P7 students from Muirhead Community School in Troon have formed a special association with the Ayrshire Chernobyl Children's Lifeline Link and worked very hard to arrange visits for the children to a variety of venues. In conjunction with other schools in Troon they have raised funds that will be put to good use for the benefit of the visiting children.

"When staff within the County Buildings heard of the visit they decided to organise a 'bucket collection' to raise some extra funds to provide the with pocket money and extra treats during their visit.

"I would like to thank everyone who is supporting the visit and in particular Mancini Ices who kindly donated ice-cream which was served during the reception in the County Buildings, Westsound radio who provided a 'goodie bag for each child which they received along with a 'goodie bag' from South Ayrshire Council."

Muirhead Community School has been particularly involved with organising the visit, and meeting with the children during their visit, as part of the Scottish Government's 'Determined To Succeed' programme which aims to enhance active citizenship and life skills of students. 'Determind to Succeed' aims to help young people develop self-confidence, self-reliance and at school, in life and when they are old enough to enter employment. During their stay the children from Chernobyl will spend time at Muirhead Community School and meet with students and staff. The children will also visit a number of tourist and leisure facilities.

Muirhead Community School children are also involved in a research project learning about the disaster at Chernobyl and the effects it has had on the people living in the affected countries and the environmental impact it had on the rest of Europe.

Having established a permanent link with the Ayrshire Chernobyl Link Organisation, the children at Muirhead Community School will be encouraged to form and maintain links with the visiting children once they return home. Plans are already underway to bring another group of children across to Ayrshire later in 2006, and it is hoped that children attending the school in years to come will maintain the links.

Colin Macdonald is Chairman of Anyone who would like further information on the organisation should log onto to their website at www.ayrshire-chernobyl.co.uk

February 2006