"RussEDUCAID, a registered charity, was formed by myself and wife Kate in 2000, shortly after our retirement to Presteigne after founding and running a charity helping in Russian orphanages for several years from our then home in Hampshire.

Support comes from local people (there is an annual Coffee Morning along the lines of a garden party, at the home of local residents Richard and Gwyn Archer, to raise funds), and other donations.

The charity also pays the salary of a staff member at the Solotcha orphanage, and from time to time, as funds permit, gives other help.

Anna Yerohina, from the orphanage in the village of Solotcha, about one hundred miles south of Moscow, completes a three year course of study in the UK at Herefordshire Technical College this summer (2004).

Last year a group from another orphanage not far from Solotcha came to the UK at the charitys invitation, and after three weeks in Stratford on Avon, spent a week in Presteigne hosted by a number of local families. They made visits to several nearby attractions - the Small Breeds Farm at Kington and the Spaceguard Centre at Knighton among them."

Written by Neil Doubleday from Presteigne.