HIGHWORTH Junior Football Club is struggling to meet costs of nearly £35,000 for last year's archaeological dig.

Archaeologists were called in when Roman relics were found during the construction of the club's new pavilion.

Excavations in June last year unearthed the remains of walls and a courtyard plus Roman coins and pottery.

Now the club is facing a bill of £14,500 for the work, carried out by Kemble-based Cotswold Archaeology.

Added to this is the £20,000 cost of delays because of the dig.

"We just haven't got that kind of money, and no-one seems to be able to help us out," said club chairman Bernard Berry.

"We knew we had to pay for an archaeologist to watch over the building work in case any remains were found and we budgeted for this.

"But what we were not told is that we would have to pay for these remains to be studied.

"Then there are the costs of the delays to the building work, which had to stop for four weeks. It's a double-edged sword.

"What is frustrating is that no-one at Swindon Council informed us that we could face these kind of costs when we were applying for funding.

"We can't go back and ask for extra cash now and we don't know where we are going to get the money from."

Mr Berry approached English Heritage for help, but was told no cash was available.

The costs amount to three years' budget for the club, which has 200 players.

"Parents pay a yearly subscription to us but we can't expect them to pay extra," said Mr Berry, who fought for 10-years to get the £580,000 pavilion built at the Rec.

"We all know Swindon Council has financial problems, and Highworth Town Council doesn't have this kind of money.

"It's not fair that we should have to cover these costs.

"Archaeology is nothing to do with us. We are about playing football."

Most of the costs of the pavilion which opened in May came from the Football Foundation.

Mr Berry said that £30,000 could pay for an all-weather pitch and improve floodlighting.

Swindon Council spokes-person Caroline Pike said: "Wherever archaeol-ogical remains are found, the council, as the planning authority, is obliged to take action to protect them.

"We are sorry to hear about the difficulties Highworth Junior Football Club is experiencing and we are happy to discuss this with them further to resolve the issue."

l If anyone has suggestions about funding, they should call Mr Berry on 01793 763047.

Tamash Lal