A PARTY of children who came from Belarussia with love felt the long arm of the law in Leigh.

On Tuesday the 10 youngsters, aged eight to 12, from troubled Belarus visited Leigh Police Station as part of their stay in the borough.

They met officers and staff, horses and dogs and visited the communications suite. They were also shown the armed response vehicle and traffic control equipment before having lunch in the canteen.

The children are visiting the borough for respite from conditions in the former Soviet state following the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1986.

Contaminated

The whole of Belarus remains contaminated by radiation from the reactor and will continue to suffer the blight for the next 600,000 years.

Children there are often born suffering from various forms of cancer and many will never see adulthood.

They were brought over by the Billinge Family Church of which Wigan Council's economic regeneration community officer, John Hill, is a member.

The church brings a party over every two years and during their two week stay they will also visit Liverpool, Blackpool, Camelot, Leigh parks and Chorley Baths.

John , who visited Belarus last year, said: "It's a frightening place to visit. You can feel the oppression and taste the radiation. There are no birds, no wildlife and no natural noise so coming to Wigan and Leigh is a real change. They got a big thrill out of seeing the action at Leigh police station."