The good people at Sky in Livingston are raising funds to help start a new charity looking after children in desperate need, following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Children will be given respite care in the West Lothian and Forth Valley area with volunteer families to help improve their general health and well-being.

Pre Xmas we had a bake sale, baking competition, guess the weight of the Christmas cake and choir singing.  We’ve also had some teams donating the contents of their swear box as well as people just generously making a donation from their own pocket.  We are also having an ongoing book sale, Indian Head Massages over lunchtimes and monthly knockout pool competitions.

Future events planned are a tombola at the end of January using unwanted Xmas gifts; guess how many sweets are in the jar; closest to the bottle; another bake sale around Easter time; a “things that money can’t buy” auction and we have just kicked off a “Biggest Loser” competition within Technology.

The whole fund-raising drive will culminate in April when a group of brave volunteers will travel to Perthshire to be "thrown off a cliff"! 

Our intrepid volunteers will take part in an afternoon of canyoning in which they will travel down a canyon by jumping, climbing, swimming and probably also by falling.

FOCC Forth Valley is an independent local charity set-up to help children affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Work is carried out entirely by volunteers who give their time, care and homes freely to allow our children an annual respite from the radiation, poverty and poor social conditions in their own country.

FOCC Forth Valley will be bringing children (from age 7 up) from Belarus to the Forth Valley area of Scotland for one month each year. The first visit is planned for April 2012 with 17 children being helped.

Our objective is to provide “a month of love and care” for each one of our children during their visits to Scotland. To do this the key elements of our programme are to provide:

* A good home with a loving and caring family
* Clean healthy air and surroundings
* Healthy food (and lot’s of it)
* Dental, optical and medical help when needed
* Schooling and further education to learn lots more about our country and way of life.

To make all this happen we need enough money to pay for air fares, visas, local transportation and basic necessities as well as vitamins, medicines and food to provide ongoing support in Belarus.

FOCC Forth Valley is affiliated with Friend's of Chernobyl's Children (GB) which has been helping children from Chernobyl for many years through groups across the UK.

So please dig deep and donate now.