History of St Petersburg Charity Forum

The charity which was set up in 1995 and there were five trustees – Elizabeth and Tom Clark, Peter and Judy Semple, and Maggie McAllister. In 2002 Peter, Judy and Maggie resigned and Peter & Judy remained as Patrons of the Charity. Helen Morrison a senior nurse and lecturer and May McMaster, adult educationalist and professional artist took their places as Trustees.

There are three other additional Board members – Hannah McIntyre from Reid Kerr College, Anne Fawbert, a Burnsian and Reta Maley from Women Across the world. The Board have a wide range of knowledge, abilities and contacts.

Tom & Elizabeth first visited St Petersburg in 1992 to take part in cycle races. The trip has changed many lives in many ways. Big changes were taking place in Russia at that time, the queues for food were long, and inflation was out of control, but the citizens of St Petersburg warm, generous and friendly and that was the start of the love affair with St Petersburg!

During a trip back to St Petersburg in January 1994 when they attended a Burns Supper, Tom & Elizabeth were introduced to Margarita Mudrak from the Association for International Cooperation, and they were told about the various projects the Association were involved in, in the city, particularly with orphans and homeless.

Margarita Mudrak visited Scotland in the summer of 1994 and it was arranged for her to visit a general hospital in the Renfrewshire area. She visited Inverclyde hospital where Peter Semple is a Consultant.

In 1995 and Peter & Judy visited the medical military hospital and met with doctors who specialised in Cancer diagnosis and treatment and it became obvious that the care in hospitals and in particular the care of cancer patients did not in any way compare with Scotland.

That was when it was decided to set up the charity to help those less fortunate in St Petersburg, and so St Petersburg Forum was born. The charity is registered with the authorities and the Inland Revenue.

The aim of the charity is to promote links on a charitable, educational, medical and cultural basis between groups in Scotland and their counterparts in Russia and to expand the knowledge of each other’s culture, history, language, education and health systems.

One of our first projects was to fill two containers with hospital supplies, donated by various hospitals, which were shipped to St Petersburg. Included in the containers were medical equipment, such as baby incubators, surgical equipment, nurses’ uniforms, bed linen, children’s clothes, toys and vitamins for the orphanages.

The Forum had not forgotten about cancer care and the fact that there apparently were no hospices and very little palliative care for cancer patients in St Petersburg. It was decided that one of the best ways of helping was to bring someone with a special interest in cancer care to Scotland to see the work of our hospices. Contacts recommended Galina Antipova and after Tom & Elizabeth interviewed her in January 1996, she and a colleague came to Scotland on a fact-finding trip in the summer of 1996.

They visited both Ardgowan and Accord Hospices and returned to St Petersburg full of enthusiasm and ideas. The Forum rented and equipped premises in the city and the cancer day centre began. Galina returned to Scotland on two more occasions, with medical personnel and they spent several weeks with Macmillan nurses being trained in their methods. Galina was trained in special counselling skills, and the Forum funded the day centre for ten years until palliative care improved in the hospitals in St Petersburg.

During this period one of our young students, Dasha, developed leukaemia and very quickly £3000 was raised to pay for her chemotherapy treatment, thus saving her life. She is now a healthy young beautiful adult.

One project was the translation, into Russian, of all of the Bacup leaflets used in the UK to give advice to Cancer patients and their families. The booklets, in Russian, are now available in the city.

Galina was given continual support both financially and through training.

The Forum became involved in various other projects.

The medical military hospital was supplied with glass laboratory slides for several years to help with the diagnosis of cancer.

Joint research allowed medical papers to be written about the work of Sir James Wylie, the Scottish medic who was doctor to three Tsars and the founder member of the medical military hospital in St Petersburg, in late 1700s. He was born a Scot but died a Russian and is one of the most important figures in the history of medicine in Russia. He was at the Battle of Borodino in 1812 - the same 1812 that Tchaikovsky based his music on. He was responsible for insisting that the ordinary soldier received treatment on the field of battle not just the officers. In fact he performed more that 200 operations himself during the battle.

At present there are around 6000 orphans in St Petersburg in approx 90 orphanages. Babies are abandoned at birth because of abnormalities, drug related problems or poverty. We have supported two orphanages for many years. The first is orphanage No. 40 for partially sighted children aged 3-7 years with addition physical and psychological problems. It is suppied with spectacle frames and give a monthly donation to purchase necessary medicines for the children. Eye pressure testing equipment and items for the relaxation and psychotherapy room have recently been donated. At Christmas every child in the orphanage was sent a personal Christmas gift.

The Forum also support orphanage No. 46 for children aged 7-16yrs. Last year curtains were purchased for this orphanage. A project called ‘English in Action’ is run in this orphanage. There are many bright children in this orphanage but there is no opportunity for them to learn English. Teaching resources and a teacher of English are funded by the Forum. It is hoped that by giving them this skill the students will be able to go on to further education and perhaps become involved in the tourist industry in the city. One of our main concerns is what happens to the orphans when they reach 16 yrs. Hostels are provided for some but many return to the streets.

Several years ago a link was created between Capability Scotland and a similar organisation for adults with learning difficulties in St Petersburg through an art project.

In August 2000 a Russian Art Exhibition was arranged in Paisley Art Gallery for several months and this was the start of cultural links with Paisley.

Each year, in January/ February, as part of the ‘Days of Scotland in St Petersburg the Forum run a ‘Knowledge of Scotland Schools’ Competition’ for students between the ages of 15 and 17. The competition is part of the school curriculum in school’s where they specialise in the teaching of the English language and the students prepare projects on topics set by us.

When the Scottish group arrive in the city the numbers have been whittled down to ten and the final ten make a ten-minute presentation to the judges on their chosen topic. The first three prizewinners win a trip to Scotland in the autumn when they experience Scottish culture at first hand. Since the beginning 34 talented young people have benefited from this initiative, and many links have been formed and remain.

At first when the children were doing research for their projects, material was thin on the ground, a Scottish library was set up in the House of Friendship in St Petersburg. Many hundreds of books, videos, etc have been supplied to this library. The library is also equipped with a computer, Internet access and an e-mail facility for the students.

Since 2002, in collaboration with the Robert Burns World Federation, based in Ayr, the Forum have coordinated an essay competition for 13/16 year olds in St Petersburg. Quotes from Burns poems like ‘We’ll ne’er forget the People’, My Birth place of Valour, my Country of Worth, and the Best laid Schemes of mice and men gang aft agley’, have been essay topics. The standard of essays from these young students is outstanding.

The Forums third competition is for young artists and again a Scottish theme is set for their work. This is a most prestigious competition and the awards are keenly contested.

Because of these competitions and the work with the brightest and best students many links have been formed between schools in Scotland and schools in St Petersburg. The ‘Knowledge of Scotland’ winners visit several schools during their 2 week trip in September.

In September 2007 a sell out concert was held in Reid Kerr College Theatre when the audience were blown over by the talents of the 4 Russian students.

The Forum now have very close working links with Reid Kerr College in Paisley. The creative Arts department, headed by Peter Pringle and the catering and hospitality department, headed by John Baird have been linked with similar educational establishments in St Petersburg and these links are becoming stronger each year.

In February 2008 four of the Trustees of the Forum –Elizabeth, Tom, May, and Helen accompanied Maureen Rockes-Moore from the Isobel Mair School in East Renfrewshire on a visit to orphanage No. 11 where children with severe learning difficulties live. The director explained the work and ethos of the orphanage, showed the art work of the children and gave a tour of the facilities. The Forum donation £200 from an organisation associated with the Church of Scotland (Dove) and this was presented to the orphanage to allow them to purchase art equipment for the children. The Forum have agreed to help set up a drop in centre for the young people after they have left the orphanage at aged 17 years.