A club for Russian-speaking children living in the island has celebrated its five-year anniversary.

Club Solnyshko - which is Russian for the little sun - was set up by Lana Barnett, Yelena Nisbet and Marina Hill and iconcentrates on children having fun at the same time as teaching them to speak Russian.

To commemorate the five-year milestone, a total of 16 children who are originally from Ukraine, Latvia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia gathered at the ELIM Family centre in Onchan.

The club was set up in 2012 at the family centre and is also a place where Russian-speaking families can meet to socialise and learn more about their language and culture.

Lana said: ’We would like to thank the ELIM centre and particularly the Reverend John Powell for his unstinting support our kid’s club since its inception. Also, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to Celton Manx for assisting us to purchase our own printer and other equipment.’