This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Ukraine

29th March 2011

Chernobyl Charity Walk

Can you walk 110 kilometres in 24 hours?  That’s the distance from the centre of Kyiv to the edge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone north of Kyiv.

With the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster coming up at the end of April, a group of volunteers from the British and French embassies in Kyiv are planning a masochistic-sounding 110 kilometre walk from a square close to the embassy to Chernobyl.  The aim is to help two charities:  The Children of Chernobyl Relief and Development Fund and BLESMA.  I am full of admiration for the walkers, who are preparing for this immense challenge entirely in their own time.  Details of who to sponsor them or to make a donation are here.

About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.

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british charity chernobyl disaster embassy french fund-raising general walk

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