Mr Donal Denham is the newly appointed Ambassador to Belarus. Mr Denham presented his credentials to President Lukashenka earlier in October 2009. Ambassador Denham is the first Irish Ambassador to Belarus to be accredited to Minsk from Vilnius, Lithuania where he is resident. Previously, Ireland had non-resident diplomatic relations through its embassy in Moscow. President Lukashenko warmly welcomed the Ambassador and praised Ireland for its humanitarian assistance since the Chernobyl accident, 23 years ago. The President also looked forward to developing closer trade and investment links with Ireland.

An exciting twenty-four hour Skiathon has raised much-needed funds for the Chernobyl Childrens Project International. The skiers and Student Garda from Templemore broke a new Guinness World Record and covered a 300km distance-that's Dublin to Cork and more!

In January 2010 (over the 20th, 21st and 22nd January), at the University of Limerick Sports Arena, student Gardai from Templemore will undertake a Million Metre Row Challenge to raise essential funds for the Templemore Home of Hope. Organisers, Sergeants Conor O'Reilly and Conall Mallen will aim for a new world record of 72 hours, 17 mins and 5 secs. Two gardai, Ken McDonald and DJ O'Dwyer will exchange 2 hours on and 2 hours off on a Concept Rowing machine over a 3 day period.The expert training and nutrition advice given by the UL Sports Department will be invaluable to achieving this World Record attempt. During the challenge, the two gardai will achieve a total of 95,040 rowing strokes, cover one mile every 6 mins 53 secs and a distance of 1,000km (625 miles) or 24 marathons back to back over the 3 days.

In 2010, Dave O'Brien will run and aims to successfully complete four 250 km, self-supported footraces across the driest, windiest, hottest and coldest places on earth. The Atacama Desert in Chile, the Gobi Desert in China, the Sahara Desert in Egypt and finally, Antartica! To date, 41 people in the world have completed the four deserts, however only 2 people have completed them in one year. Dave will be the third person in the world to complete the 4 Deserts successfully in 38 weeks, but also the oldest!

The Chernobyl Children's Project International is the beneficiary charity of the exclusive furniture store company Maison & Chateau, with several outlets throughout Ireland. Under the guidance and creativity of owner, manager Derek Kehoe, Maison & Chateau has gone from strength to strength. Derek is a huge supporter of the work of CCPI and donates a percentage of sales of the beautiful furniture ranges to the work of the charity. Log onto www.maisonchateau.com for more information and to view the furniture ranges on sale.