Conceptually, the idea was enterprising. The Eyre-brained idea was to guess where a barrel would end up after being dropped from a  plane in to the sea. The proceeds of ticket sales, after prizes, would go to the reconstruction of Port Ellen hotel project. Unfortunately, and predictably, the target of 40,000 tickets was never likely to be reached owing to fundamental flaws - naive marketing, amateur promotion, and lack of credibility in the scheme.  Despite warnings, from the outset it was clear that it desperately needed global participation for any chance of obtaining the numbers anticipated. Islay, with it's population of 3,400, and it's relatively humble visitor numbers, could never be relied on to shift the volume of tickets necessary.

Apparently, over almost one year with deadlines being extended by 8 months, a risable 1000 tickets were ultimately sold. Roland Worthington-Eyre, the organiser of the scheme and owner of the Port Ellen hotel,  is to refund all monies to disappointed participants. I think he should be honour-bound to drop the barrel, even if there is no £250,000 prize - just to see where it would have ended up...

Washed up - no doubt.