HARDY SOULS GO FOR DIP!
CLOGHERHEAD CHARITY SWIM FOR CHERNOBYL
Philip Smith, Andrew Carolan and Paddy Lynn were just three of the dozens who hit the water off Clogherhead for the Chernobyl swim on Monday.
THE ANNUAL Chernobyl charity swim in Clogherhead brought sunshine - but a chill factor - as hardy souls took to the Irish Sea at Clogherhead on St Stephen’s Day.
Drogheda woman Isobel San Roma has been the driving force behind the project locally and she had Sviatlana Rukan and Natasha Huckenka on hand to help out with the day’s events.
In the region of 100 dippers raced into the sea - some dressed in festive costume.
It was deemed another huge success for the charity.
Sviatlana and Natasha were part of a group of 39 children with special needs – many of whom have come from turbulent backgrounds – who flew into Dublin from Chernobyl for Christmas.
Many of the children reside in Vesnova Children’s Mental Asylum, an orphanage which was hidden in a veil of secrecy during the years of the Soviet Union. It was discovered by Irish volunteers working with Adi Roche’s Chernobyl Children International charity in the early 1990’s. Since then it has been transformed into a world class child care centre and each year scores of its residents come to Ireland for Christmas and summer rest and recuperation holidays.
2016 was the 30th anniversary of the disaster and Isobel has been involved in helping the charity and the children since then.