Boxing clever for the troops

BHSF is supporting British troops in Afghanistan by supplying them with care boxes full of everyday basic items.

Staff from BHSF have collected enough items of such things as toiletries, sweets, and even playing cards, to fill 40 containers the size of shoe boxes.

They are being sent through the campaign founded by Violet and Michael Caradon, the parents of L/Cpl Muirhead of the 1st Royal Irish Regiment who was killed in a Taliban mortar attack in Helmand Province in September of 2006, and who is buried at Bearley near Stratford-upon-Avon

The ‘shoe-box’ campaign only started in March this year after family pressure for something to be done for the troops in memory of Paul, and already 580 boxes have found their way to forward bases in Afghanistan where forces have only the very basics.

Violet said: “We wanted to do something to help the troops and talking to returning soldiers who knew Paul, we realised that those in the forward bases had little but normal army rations.

“So we set up this campaign and now we are sending many boxes a month”.

Katie Bentley and Darren Downton from BHSF, organised the appeal among the staff as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility programme, and chief executive Peter Maskell said: “I can’t think of a better campaign than helping our troops in action in Afghanistan.

“We will be making this an ongoing part of our CSR programme”.