The Kentish Express is launching an appeal for our readers to support this charity, following an overwhelming response to a recent story.

We previosuly reported how the work done by the Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline Ashford and Romney Marsh Link supporting youngsters affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is being threatened by the government.

Each year children from Belarus and Ukraine whose lives have been blighted by the fallout from the explosion at the power plant in 1986 are invited to visit Ashford, to enjoy a period of fun and recuperation.

But now the visits are being threatened after an announcement by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that free visas for Chernobyl children will end in March this year.

We called on people across the Ashford borough to sign a petition to oppose the changes, and scores of you decided to contact the paper to voice your support.

Now we are urging our ever-generous readers to dig deep to help fund the work being done by Sarah Day and her fellow volunteers at the Ashford and Romney branch of the national charity.