You may remember a few weeks ago we exclusively revealed how Blantyre residents rallied together and along with the Village Bar, made it possible for Blantyre’s David Poniszkis (58) to go a wonderful trip of a lifetime to see his beloved Scotland play football, in what was to be his first time abroad.
David is a regular at the Village Bar in Station Road and until just a fortnight ago, had not been abroad.
Supporters’ group The Village Tartan Army Bar, who faithfully attend all Scotland games were the vehicle to make this possible and took it upon themselves to start raising funds for David to join them, paying for his accommodation, flights and even some spending money, when Scotland played Gibraltar in Portugal. Other businesses in Blantyre contributed financially too, including The Priory Bar and Remo’s barbers.
Colin King (49) who runs the Village Tartan Army Bar Supporters’ Club, said 22 of them in total made the trip to Portugal, taking David with them. Colin said: “We wanted to take him because he’s 58, he had never been abroad and didn’t have a passport. He’s a well-known Blantyre resident. We’re a group of his friends, who make up the Village Tartan Army Bar Supporters’ Club. A couple of guys took him down to fly from Manchester because the Scottish flights were too expensive. He arrived quite late on the Friday night and went straight to his bed. Unfortunately Saturday was terrible weather. It was like the worst day of rain in Glasgow. It was raining all day. But it was good weather for the game on Sunday. We also went round about and went into Faro.”
David wants to thank everyone who sent him to the game. And he says he had a great time watching Scotland beat Gibraltar 6-0. David said: “I have to thank them all. I was surprised they did it because I have never been abroad, never been on a plane. They gave me the window seat going over and coming home. It was brilliant! I want to thank everybody who donated from the Village Bar and the Priory Bar and from Remo’s.”
