Chernobyl children have a stomping great time at Daresbury

STFC's Alan Brown talks to youngsters from Belarus about the science of sound

Thirteen children from Belarus visited STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory on 5 August 2010, for an afternoon of educational, hands-on fun as part of a month long stay in the North-West.

As part of a recuperative holiday organised by the Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline Charity, the youngsters, aged between 8 and 14, got the chance to understand the science of sound using ‘Slinkys’ and by making reeds out of straws before going on to learn about forces and gravity, launching their own stomp rockets with their feet.  The afternoon ended with a fascinating show on the planets and our universe, courtesy of Daresbury’s mobile planetarium, the STARLab’.

The Chernobyl Children's Life Line charity organises respite breaks to the UK to give the children a chance to live in a cleaner environment and eat uncontaminated food for a month. Despite being born many years after the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, these children still suffer an increased risk from many serious illnesses as a consequence of the polluted environment in which they live.  This four-week trip can increase their life expectancy by as much as two years because their immune systems have a chance to recover during this time.

Tony Buckley, Head of Communications and Outreach at STFC Daresbury Laboratory, said: "This is the fourth year running that we have been visited by children from Belarus and, as always, it has been a pleasure to host such an enthusiastic group of youngsters. Our guests were really keen to get involved in all the hands-on science experiments and thoroughly enjoyed a fun day of science.”

Notes to editors

Contact

• Wendy Taylor
  STFC Press Officer
  Daresbury Laboratory
  Tel: +44 (0)1925 603 232

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