ROSSENDALE'S Town Crier has something to shout about after agreeing to lead a mercy mission to the Black Sea.

Peter Gill and his wife Christine will lead a convey of lorries heading out to a converted Soviet boot camp, now used as a holiday centre for poor and sick children across Eastern Europe.

The centre, in Myaki, on the Black Coast of the Ukraine, has been run since 1994 by the International Aid Trust.

The Lancashire-based charity was set up by Brinscall man Bernard Cocker and his wife Christine in the early 1990s after they saw the suffering the 1986 Chernobyl disaster had caused in the Ukraine. The centre provides more than 2,600 holidays for children from across Eastern Europe every year but is in need of repair.

Next month, volunteers from local firms -- including MPH Windows -- are due to travel to Myaki to carry out the necessary repairs.

Peter will spend five days driving one of the lorries across Europe.

Mr Cocker, the International Aid Trust director, said: "The journey will take at least five days, because you can held up for at least a day at any one of the borders you have to cross.

"The holiday centre not only provides what is a holiday of a lifetime for these children, but also gives them the chance to receive medical aid, which they wouldn't get otherwise.

"We can attempt to treat them for illnesses, get them to see a dentist and give them the sort of day trips which we in this country see as run-of-the-mill but to them are unique experiences. Even trips into the forest can delight them."

Peter, was has been a fireman for more than 30 years, will drive a lorry full of replacement windows. Workers will join him at the centre to carry out the work.

Bernard added: "By providing the holidays in Myaki, rather than anywhere else, we are also able to provide a much-needed boost to the economy.

"We can provide hundreds of jobs which have a knock-on effect throughout the area. Because it is so well-used by children from across Europe, it is in need of repair and we are very grateful for all the support from local businesses and from Peter."

Many of the youngsters who will benefit from Peter's drive are second-generation victims of the Chernobyl reactor meltdown.

International Aid was originally founded in Brinscall, near Chorley, and has charity shops across East Lancashire.