The four-times British senior champions earned the right to represent Great Britain when they retained their national title at Deeside, in Wales, last November. Although they skated alone, they achieved a personal best score under the International Skating Union (ISU) judging system.

That was enough to give them another shot at the world title in London, Ontario, on March 30 and 31. Each of the 19 girls (16 skaters and three reserves) chosen to travel will have to stump up anything up to £1,000 to make the trip.

Their head coach, Melissa Galvin, said that sum will be brought down by a fundraising gala featuring the girls at the Basingstoke Arena on Thursday (6pm). A similar gala last year reduced the cost of going to the world championships in Prague. A grant from Hampshire County Council also helped.

"We've applied to Hampshire again this year and we're waiting to hear if we have been successful," said Galvin, who is also waiting for cash promised by the ISU last year for competing in Prague. This year's gala, which costs £2, will also feature novice team Sparkle and Stardust, the juvenile outfit. They will be joined by a number of top figure skaters from Basingstoke, who will perform exhibition numbers.

Sponsorship to the tune of £1,000 from the Chineham branch of Matalan will provide the Storm girls with training outfits for the trip to Canada. They will be skating to Madonna's Like A Prayer in their short programme and to the Swing Classics selection by Robbie Williams in their long programme.

Galvin realises her team, who were 20th in Prague, have no hope of getting among the top 10 nations and has pitched her goal accordingly. "To improve on last year and finish in the top 15 would be good," she said. "The top teams practise for 30 hours a week. One-and-a-half-hours on the ice a week is all we have."

Six-times British novice champions Team Sparkle also skated at Deeside but had to be content with silver medals. The juvenile team, Stardust, will be seeking their first British championship gold medals at Ice Sheffield on March 19 after bronze and three silver-medal finishes in the last four years. They will be skating to music from the musical Mary Poppins.