Sporting students from a Tenby school who had been left in limbo abroad after the Icelandic volcano ash cloud caused chaos to air travel arrangements across Europe have now returned home safely.

Greenhil School's party of 24 female pupils who had visited Gibraltar to take part in hockey and netball tournaments returned home on Monday, while another party of students from the school, who ironically had been to Italy to see the volcano Vesuvius, also made it back safely on the same day.

The Gibraltar party eventually made it home via cross channel ferry after their flights to Cardiff Airport had been cancelled towards the end of last week.

It wasn't all plain sailing, though, as the pupils and staff did have to endure a 49-hour coach journey along the way, but had kindly been put up in a hotel in Torremolinos on their enforced stay away before they set off on the long journey back home from Malaga.

The Italy party, meanwhile, also had to undergo a lengthy coach journey, setting out from Rome for Caen in Normandy, before catching a ferry to Portsmouth and then a road journey back to Pembrokeshire.

"We are really glad that all pupils and staff are home safe, and a big thank you to all who worked hard to get the students home as quickly as possible," said Greenhill School's headteacher, Mrs. Jan Kingston.