Wee Clan fly the flag for Scotland

Some 25 young Scots have taken part in an international Tag rugby festival in Ireland.The youngsters, part of the Wee Clan, are following in the footsteps of The Clan, a club that has grown from its Ayrshire roots through its provision of unified rugby.The Clan is an initiative of charity Trust Rugby International (TRI), which is a partner organisation of Scottish Rugby.Unified rugby enables those with learning difficulties to play alongside those who don’t face the same challenges.Ayrshire Clan have proved the forerunner to the launch of Edinburgh Clan and other clans are on the point of being started in other parts of Scotland.The Wee Clan took part in the Wooden Spoon International Tag Rugby Festival in Limerick, where given the celebratory nature of the event, there are no winning prizes.Team mate datesThis is the third year they have participated in the festival, with funding from charity Shared Care Scotland.Jamie Armstrong, Development Director of Trust Rugby International, explained: “The festival was part of a year-long project that we have designed called Team Mate Dates and it involves camping, this tour, climbing, excursions and development rugby camps.”Around 25 families made the trip to Ireland.  They were drawn from three schools in Ayrshire, with whom we’ve worked all year with the festival in mind – Doon Academy, Staincastle and James Reid.”Ciaran Armstrong, TRI’s development coach, who led the trip to Limerick, said: “We had a fantastic weekend at Garryowen RFC.  The pupils who represented the ‘Wee Clan’ had a great weekend, full of rugby.”They enjoyed the Festival but also enjoyed travelling to Ireland as some of them had never left Scotland before.”This is the third year we have taken groups like this away and we hope to continue giving children this experience for years to come.”The youngsters who made the trip to Ireland were: Ross Andrew, Aiden Coghill, Jack McCullagh, Zain Jabbar, Adam Aitken, Stephanie Atkinson, Nikki Gillen, Stacey Hammond, Ryan Dickson, Alex Baker, Adam Howell, Aydan Andrews, Will Moore, William Watson, Andrew Murphy, Mason McMahon, Dylan McLean, Robert White, Dylan Gilmour, Scott Limond, Owen Murphy, Hugh Melrose, Robert McGinlay, Aaron McTaggart and Stuart McFadzean.Notes to editors: Shared Care Scotland is a carers’ charity which administers Better Breaks grants programme on behalf of the Scottish Government.  The aim of the fund is to improve the range and reach of short breaks for disabled children and their families.