It is 25 years since No4 reactor at Chernobyl's nuclear reactor exploded and went into melt down. It will be 24,000 years until the land in Belarus is once again safe for habitation.

In the meantime, the poorest people in that country still live there and have to live off the contaminated land.

As usual , to this day the worst affected are the children. They are malnourished, vitamin deficient, are very likely to contract some kind of cancer,  have no help from their Government and, of course, it is yesterday's news so the world has moved on.

However, once a year the charity Friends of Chernobyl's Children bring as many children as they can over to the UK for a month to give them some respite from the horrendous conditions they live in. 

Rather than me try to explain it, PLEASE take a minute to visit  http://www.focc.org.uk/Edinburgh_West.html  and get an isnight into what is involved.

Jennifer and I have decided to offer our home to a child from Belarus for a month in September and again in 2012 & 13. In order to help the charity fund the trip I am riding 51 miles from Glasgow to Edinburgh, on Sunday 11th September, in the Fresh'N'Lo cycle challenge to raise as much as I can. It costs approximately £1200 per child per year. 

I know that there are lots of pressures on everyone to donate to everything but every little bit is really appreciated. 

Do me a favour and pass this on to everyone in your address book. We all love to pass on humerous stuff but we sometimes think twice about passing on the likes of this. Please don't think about it just pass it on and allow the recipient to decide.

My aching Butt thanks you...................