Marymass 2015 - 24/08/15

The Seagate Rotary hot dog stall on Kilwinning Road at Marymass was once again a popular success, this year augmented by crepes and a donation of tablet which was very popular.  Tickets are starting to come back from the previous week’s balloon race, with the furthest travelled so far being found in Edinburgh.

Seagate’s speaker on Monday was Michael Lafferty from the Ayrshire section of the charity Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline.  Whilst the nuclear disaster was nearly 30 years ago, there are large areas of Ukraine and Belarus where the land, water and food chain are still affected by fallout which will last for many years. 

A lot of children in these areas suffer from varying degrees of ill health related to the radiation, and the Children’s Lifeline brings some to Scotland every year for a 4 week break to enjoy the benefits of clean air and fresh food.  4 weeks is sufficient to clear Caesium 137 from the body, and when they return home it will take several years before it builds up again.

Over the past fifteen years, the Ayrshire group has brought over 400 children who have been looked after by volunteer host families.  Michael showed a DVD of the work of the charity, and answered questions.  A Vote of Thanks was proposed by John Brown.