Windsor U-14s left counting the cost of volcanic ash fall-out

It is not often that the name of a team's sponsor's establishment could come in handy in a time of crisis but Musselburgh Windsor under-14s would have been more than grateful if they could have.

The boys from the Honest Toun were given a generous donation by local businessman Kenny McLean of the Coach & Horses for a trip to Spain this year but were unfortunately caught up in the Icelandic volcano eruption fall-out.

Normally, when youth football clubs arrange trips to tournaments at home and abroad, nearly every contingency is covered but who could have forecast the trouble Windsor under-14s encountered on their travels which ended in the volcano eruption's ash costing the boys some serious cash!

After the usual fund-raising activities and the generous donation from Kenny McLean to achieve the necessary finances, the boys landed safely in Spain to begin an adventure which will be remembered for the rest of their lives.

The first few days where taken up by two training sessions with Espanyol at their training ground in the centre of Barcelona with the benefit of coaching by staff from the La Liga side's staff.

They then played two matches against local teams, CF Jupiter and Iniesta, and won 7-1 and 2-1 respectively.

But it was not all work and no play as the boys enjoyed attending the Barcelona v Deportivo La Coruna game at the Nou Camp and also had a tour of the Barcelona stadium. However, no-one saw the dark clouds approaching as the tour came to an end.

As most people are aware, there was serious disruption to flights due to the volcano eruption with the ash cloud grounding flights and, as luck would have it, the Musselburgh Windsor party were stranded in Spain for an extra two days due to cancelled flights.

The officials were left to scramble around looking for alternative modes of transport to get home and after arranging an extra two days in their hotel they managed to hire a bus.

Obviously, this was a major extra cost to the team — around 6,000 — which had to be paid by the team.

Although they did receive a donation on return from Musselburgh Windsor central funding, the team are now trying to raise the 4,800 shortfall.

Head coach David Scott said: "Despite the disruption to their tour, the team did have a great time and now look forward to the new season ahead."

Windsor 14s would like to thank Kenny McLean of the Coach & Horses for his support and if you can help, please contact David Scott on 0790 092 0575 or Secretary Sharron Risi on 0790 407 1746.

"Despite the disruption to their tour, the team did have a great time"