Newsletters

All Our Recently Published Newsletters 

Summer Newsletter 2024

It’s great to be supporting the Children’s Hospice again! We first began working with Anna Gorchakova’s Hospice in Minsk about 25 years ago. But they had such good support from ‘Friends of the Belarusian Children’s Hospice’ here in the UK, that we generally restricted our involvement to educational and training visits, (this was a visit to UK Children’s Hospices in 2014). Now that FBCH has closed, we have started to provide some funding again for the Children’s Hospice. We will be helping to fund some of the nurses and other specialists working with some of the 400 children in the care of the hospice. Read more about this and all our latest news here.

Winter Newsletter 2023

We have worked with the children’s cancer charity, ’Children in Trouble’ for twenty five years, and we continue to support them now. We can no longer bring children in remission from cancer to the UK for recuperative holidays. But we funded some children to have a holiday at a Sanatorium in the summer, and we are still able to help CiT to support the children and families in the Children’s Cancer Hospital at Barovliani, in Minsk. They do all the paperwork needed to clear medicines received from abroad and they provide food parcels and gifts for families in the hospital. Read more about this story and all our other news in our Winter Newsletter

Summer Newsletter 2023

Our work goes on in Belarus – hosting children for summer holidays seems like a distant memory now, as first the pandemic and then a tragic war have made it impossible to bring children out of Belarus for recuperation. But we still have much to do in Belarus. We have two Family Homes, in the village of Klimovka, near Gomel and in the town of Rogachev. At Family Home 2000 at Klimovka, Liena and Greesha celebrated their 40th birthdays this year. Sasha, who was the inspiration for setting up the family home, no longer lives there but comes back to celebrate all special occasions. At Rodni Kut the young people enjoy the garden and games and activities at home, with Papa Sergei and their carers. But Nazar, Stas and Anton hope that maybe next summer they will get the chance to have a sanatorium holiday again. And Anya dreams of the day she will go back to visit her family in Devon. Read our latest newsletter here

Winter Newsletter 2022

Thank you to all our wonderful supporters! For the last three years we have not been able to bring children to the UK for recuperative holidays, first because of Covid 19 and now the tragic war in Ukraine. But the work in Belarus goes on and we are so grateful to everyone who has continued to give us your support so we can continue to provide love and care for children and young people with disabilities; help to get children moved into foster families; and support palliative care. All the details can be found in our latest newsletter here.

Summer Newsletter 2022

Still busy times for our team in Gomel – late July is the time our local groups would usually be welcoming children and teenagers from Belarus for a health boosting holiday. But for the third year running this is not possible, first because of Covid, and then the war in Ukraine. Volunteers would also be heading off to Belarus to work with children and young people with disabilities at the Holiday camp or at Zhuravichi. Many of our volunteers are really hoping that they might be able to get to Belarus next year. But for Natasha, Director of ‘Supporting Children Together’ and responsible for all our programmes and projects in Gomel Region, life is as busy as ever, and you can read all about it in our Summer Newsletter 2022.

Winter Newsletter 2021

Children in the Cancer Hospital in Minsk are coping with another winter with Covid to worry about, in addition to their treatment. The Minsk based charity, ‘Children in Trouble’, has been supporting children in the hospital for over 30 years. We have worked with CiT for more than 20 years, and whilst we cannot invite the children in remission from cancer to come for holidays at the moment, we are giving extra support to Children in Trouble to help them in their ongoing work. They do all the paperwork needed to clear medicines received from abroad and provide extra support for families in the hospital. With some of our recent financial support they have just delivered food parcels to families in the hospital and special nutrition for some of the young children We would like to help them to buy Christmas Gifts for the children. Read more about this and about our other current activities in our Winter Newsletter 2021.

Autumn Newsletter 2021

With a grant from the US Embassy in Minsk, our partners ‘Supporting Children Together’ have recently completed a very successful project in Gomel Region. Working in the districts of Chechersk, Dobrush and Buda-Koshilova they used all the skills and techniques learned during the UNICEF project over the previous year to support families with children with disabilities. Read our Autumn Newsletter 2021 to find out more about this and about all the other things that have been happening over the last months.

Summer 2021 Newsletter

A Family for Every Child – Five year old Misha is one of the children who have found a loving family as the result of the UNICEF project carried out by our partners in Gomel, Supporting Children Together (SCT). The final conference took place in June. Natasha from Rogachev, who was one of the speakers, has adopted Misha and his three siblings! Read more about the results of this very successful project and about some of our other important projects in Belarus here.

Spring 2021 Newsletter

Chernobyl Disaster 35th Anniversary – We have worked with Nuclear Free Local Authorities, Greater Manchester CND and Beyond Nuclear International to create an exciting event on Zoom for the eve of the Chernobyl Anniversary. We will bring together a historian who wrote a brilliantly researched account of the health effects of the disaster; a novelist who explored the impact of Chernobyl on the lives of local people; CCP’s own Director who will talk about the humanitarian response; and the wonderful actor Maxine Peake who will read some moving exerts of personal testimony from some of those most affected. They will all be in conversation with a journalist and anti-nuclear specialist from the US and there will be a chance for the audience to ask questions. Read more about this and all of our other news this Spring here

Winter News 2020

Support the Children of Belarus this Christmas – For children having treatment in the Cancer Hospital in Minsk this year has been especially hard, with all the restrictions over visits and family contact adding to the usual anxiety and stress, and the constant fear of the virus and the impact it would have on their weakened immune systems. We hope very much that it may be possible to invite children in remission to the UK again next summer. But in the meantime, through our partners ‘Children in Trouble’ we would like to provide Christmas presents, help with parties and celebrations and other support the children might need at this time. Find out how you can help and get an update on all of our projects in Belarus in our Winter Newsletter 2020.

July 2020 Newsletter

Our UNICEF funded project in Gomel began in early June with many seminars being delivered online. The project’s staff will be working closely with the Baby Home in Gomel to prevent babies being placed in the home and to find foster families for those already there who cannot be returned to their birth parents. They will also be providing support for families in danger of having their baby or young child taken away, to try to improve the situation so the child can safely stay at home. Read about this and lots more here.

May 2020 Newsletter

News From Gomel – Covid-19 – You may have read about the virus having taken hold in an orphanage in Minsk Region, but as far as we know there are no outbreaks in any of the institutions and schools we support, and everyone is safe and well at Klimovka (right) and Rodni Kut. The Mayflower Centre and all the Day Centres are closed now, and people working in the institutions are working there for two weeks and then having two weeks at home to reduce daily cross contamination. The President still insists the virus is not a threat, but the majority of people seem to be acting as responsibly as possible. People are having to take holidays from work, either paid or unpaid, there is no furlough scheme and no support for businesses.

To learn about how our important work is continuing under these current conditions, read our May 2020 Enewsletter

Our First 25 Years

In January 2020 Chernobyl Children’s Project will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of our launch event at a Lord Mayor’s Reception in Manchester Town Hall in 1995. Within 3 months we had delivered our first reconditioned ambulance to Belarus, in July we brought our first group of children for a holiday to Glossop and Littleborough and by the Autumn we were able to fill a forty foot trailer with aid and deliver this to Belarus. Our aid and holiday programmes soon grew and we have hosted well over 5,000 children for 4 week recuperative holidays and delivered hundreds of lorry loads of humanitarian aid to Belarus. Read about all our efforts and achievements in our very special newsletter – Our First 25 Years

Winter News 2019

Remember a child in Belarus this Christmas. A hospital is never the best place to spend Christmas and New Year. So for children in the Cancer Hospital in Minsk, it provides a great boost to have a visit from Father Frost, a Christmas party and receive some presents. Read about this and lots more in our Winter Newsletter here

Autumn News 2019

The teenagers visiting Solihull this summer spent their second fortnight at Lindsworth School in Birmingham, after enjoying two weeks with their host families. Both experiences are equally valuable and enjoyable. The girls are seen here during a practice for their final party performance. Read more about this and all of the other fantastic things that have happened over the summer here

Summer News 2019

Chernobyl Drama brings 1986 Disaster to Life! During May and early June a superb series about the Chernobyl accident aired on Sky and HBO.
It depicted with eerie reality the chaos of the accident, the courageous actions of the liquidators and the attempts to cover up first the existence and then the extent of the disaster by the Soviet authorities. Read more about this and about all of the great things that CCP is making happen this summer here.

Spring 2019 Newsletter

Foster Care Training in Gomel – As part of our ongoing efforts to have children with disabilities fostered into families, Stephanie Bishop and Elise Lazell spent a week in Belarus last month. They are both senior social work managers from Essex County Council. They delivered training to professionals working in foster care and to existing foster families and they took part in a very fruitful round table discussion with the Director of Education for Gomel Region and others responsible for foster care.

Read about this project and all our other news this Spring here: Spring 2019 Newsletter.

Winter 2018 Newsletter

In October our Training Co-ordinator Geoff Wright was in Gomel to deliver an important training programme to all the staff involved in our new project for UNICEF.
Working in Rogachev, Rechitsa and the Railway District of Gomel, three teams of social workers and psychologists will provide support to families with children with disabilities. They will assess the needs of the children and their carers, and then attempt to meet those needs with Education, Social Protection and Health Departments working together.

Read all about this major new project and all our other recent news here: Winter 2018 Newsletter

Autumn 2018 Newsletter

All the children who came to stay this summer were in remission from cancer. They were lucky to have lots of sunshine, which meant more time out enjoying the fresh air, having fun and boosting their immune systems. Our Glossop and New Mills Group hosted five young children with their mums. They stayed for the first week in the Torrs Apartments in New Mills and then moved to stay with host families in Glossopdale, Hayfield and Mellor. Read all about this and our latest news this Autumn here: Autumn Newsletter 2018

August 2018 Newsletter

Our Glossop and New Mills Group hosted five young children in remission from cancer with their mums. They stayed for the first week in the Torrs Apartments in New Mills and then moved to stay with host families in Glossopdale, Hayfield and Mellor. They are seen here at Lyme Park, Pony Patch, being entertained by the ‘Bubble Man’, Ian Russell, and enjoying the Hokey Cokey at a Garden Party. The group also went to the seaside at Lytham St. Anne’s, Gulliver’s World, climbing at Rope Race, out for meals and picnics, pot painting and craft sessions and lunch with Glossop W.I. Kristina celebrated her fifth birthday with us, but most of the other children were six years old. For the first time we had a baby in the group, and six month old Valera came along on all the activities.

Read all about this and all our other recent news here: August News 2018

Summer 2018 Newsletter

Our first Recuperative Holiday of the summer was for a group of young children in remission from cancer and their mums, who came to stay with families in Endon & Stoke-on-Trent. They made great friends with the children in the English families and had a wonderful time, enjoying three weeks of sunshine.

Groups are now getting ready for the older children and teenagers who will come in late July. All the children are in remission from cancer and the holiday will give a great boost to their immune systems as well as providing them with many exciting experiences and happy memories.

Read about all this and lots more here: Summer News 2018

Spring 2018 Newsletter

Remember Chernobyl

April 26th will be International Chernobyl Remembrance Day, the 32nd anniversary of the disaster.
You could wear a purple ribbon badge or wear a wristband (order through our website or contact Linda Walker at ccprojectuk@gmail.com). And burn a candle in your window on the evening of Wednesday April 25th.

Read about our news this Spring here: Spring News 2018

March 2018 Newsletter

Volunteers organiser Lynne Murphy and new member of our Management Team Brian Hardwick visited Belarus with CCP Director Linda Walker.

Residents at Zhuravichi and Vikov were delighted to see Lynne and Brian again, and plans were made for the volunteers visiting in the summer. They also visited all CCP’s projects in Gomel Region and the Cancer Hospital and Hospice in Minsk, and had meetings with Regional Officials and with UNICEF with whom we will soon be starting a new project.

Read this and all our other news here: March News 2018

Winter 2017 Newsletter

When you are planning your Christmas shopping, maybe you can consider a Gift Card for one of your friends or family. This will buy a present which will bring joy to a sick child or disabled young person in Belarus.

£10 would buy a gift for a child like Masha in the care of our Hospice Team in Gomel.

Read about all the activities that have been taking place over this winter here: Winter News 2017