Youngsters in Tower Hamlets District FC are getting cash from building contractors so they can go to Jersey to represent the East End

Building contractors have come to the rescue of a schoolkids’ football team which couldn’t raise enough cash to go to Jersey to represent London’s East End against teams from all over Britain.

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They have promised to give £2,000 to the team on Wednesday, after having read in The Docklands & East London Advertiser that the trip was in danger because the kids’ mums couldn’t raise enough cash.

Now the squad of 13 youngsters in Tower Hamlets District under-12s are off to Jersey in April—thanks to Durkan contractors and their three sub-contractors, Euro-top, Pilon and Tecfast, who are regenerating Stepney’s massive Clichy housing estate.

“It was your article that inspired me to set about raising the money,” Durkan’s community liaison manager Paul McCrea told the paper. “We managed to get the money very quickly after approaching our sub-contractors who also chipped in.”

The mums had already raised £6,000 towards the week-long cultural trip—but were struggling to raise the remaining £2,000 before the March deadline.

Ann Shields, whose 11-year-old son Louis plays in goal, said: “I’m absolutely ecstatic the contractors have stepped in after the article appeared.

“We owe the Advertiser a big ‘thank you’—now our ‘football mad’ kids can represent Tower Hamlets.”

Durkan’s managing director Robert Clark is presenting a cheque to team organiser Andrew Grant on Wednesday at Poplar’s Langdon Park Secondary, where the youngsters from schools all over the East End train each week.