This radio lark is a funny thing. Unexpectedly today I found myself covering for Michelle Ward on Eat My Brunch. Just as unexpectedly I was delighted to meet Michelle’s guests today.

The Billericay and South Essex Link of The Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline have 12 children staying mainly in the Billericay area.  The Children are from Ukraine and they live about 80 Km from the Chernobyl site.  They are here for a holiday to build up their immune systems, to eat good food, have plenty of fresh air and Ice cream.  The children are aged between 10 1/2and 11 1/2 and come from the region known as Borodyanka.  They visited us today along with an interpreter – Svitlana Sakhanda and one of the organisers of the whole trip, Gaynor Manthorpe.

Gaynor Manthorpe

Svitlana Sakhanda

The group needs to raise approximately £10,000 a year to bring the children to England.

They organise a 4-week holiday each summer for a dozen children aged 10-12 living in areas of Ukraine or Belarus still badly affected by the 1986 nuclear power plant disaster, and Gaynor is organising a busy schedule of activities for them.

You can listen to our chat, and the two wonderful songs that the children sang for us today, right here   –

The group are always looking for host families. If you are interested in helping out or donating to the project the contact number for this is  01245 328235 or Matthew on 07428 796373

You can also email matthewcg@gmail.com