"Bring me Sunshine" for our Aching Soles

"Why does your T-Shirt have the Welsh Dragon on the front of it? Are you not supporting the wrong team?" was a question I was asked the last time Scotland played Wales in Cardiff. It was a Friday night and we were having a few beers in the Walkabout pub and that type of question isn't unusual when we travel away. So I did what I normally do and turned around so they could read the back of my t-shirt which explained it was a Tartan Army Children's Charity (TACC) fund raising t-shirt and by the time I had explained why we do what we do, the young lady in question, who was a rugby fan not football, thought a bit better of football fans in general and had an extremely high regard for Scotland fans, in particular.

Most of what Scotland fans do is a well kept secret as we don't go shouting from the roof tops saying "how cool are we" and it's also not a thing that gets picked up in a major way with the press or TV as after all it's not a 'scandal', we're simply normal lads and lassie's doing what we do to help others and that's all the recognition we need.

So let me take this opportunity to introduce you to a group of Scotland supporters who have 'teamed up', calling themselves "Team Aching Soles" and have signed up to take part in The Kiltwalk and have nominated the Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal (TASA) as their designated charity.

The team consists of some well kent faces to those of us who follow Scotland, and they are June Callison, Monica Devlin, Graeme Baxter, Clark Gillies, brothers David and Stewart MacLennan, Douglas Noon, Rob Gilchrist, Paul Smith, Bryan Brown, George Corner, Graeme Shinnie, Neil McDonald, Thomas Stewart, John Daly, Marion Daly, MacMirza and Sarah Jane Smith. The team will not only be travelling from the length and breadth of the UK to take part, they will also be travelling from the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo to take part.

Some of the team are Kiltwalk veterans, and in fact I overtook Monica and June (I think) on the last leg of last years KiltWalk as they continued to 'gab' the last few miles. I knew it was Monica as she was gabbing on about her beloved Motherwell. For others, it's their first time and are all really looking forward to the big day, oh the innocence of the first timer eh.

Members of the team and indeed TASA, were brought together by their love of following the Scotland national football team and regularly meet up abroad as seen in the picture above taken outside the Lord Byron pub in Koper, Slovenia. (L-R Graeme Baxter, Stewart Maclennan, Monica Devlin, Paul Smith, David Maclennan, June Callison, George Corner, Clark Gillies).

Some have even been meeting up for regular training walks (although not on tour!) with more to come in Glasgow and Fife ahead of the big event. The team therefore, are no strangers to the kilt part of the day but the walk part may prove a bit more troublesome!

Is there truth in the rumour that every training walk end with a rather extensive 'debriefing' session in a local watering hole?

For those who haven't heard of the Sunshine Appeal, its a charity run by Scotland supporters who identify a local charity in each country that Scotland play to make a donation to assist disadvantaged and chronically ill children. Donations come in the form of money and, in some particularly needy cases, goods such as clothes, toiletries, games, toys, sweets etc all of which are kindly donated by the footsoldiers that follow the national team.

As ever with Blipfoto then we can't include hyperlinks to websites, however more information on the past work of TASA can be found by googling Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal, not that you need me to tell you how such things work.

Please support the Aching Soles, and the future work of TASA, as well as the Kiltwalk's own future, by donating what you can at their Just Giving page (search for 'aching soles')

All that remains to be said is that it doesn't matter whether you're a regular or first timer, we'll be welcoming you with open arms and a huge KiltWalk cheer when you cross the finish line.

You can follow The KiltWalk updates on Twitter at @thekiltwalk so drop by and follow us.