FINAL preparations are now under way to ensure troops serving in Afghanistan enjoy some festive cheer this Christmas.

Veterans and soldiers completed the last of the Christmas shopping to put into comfort boxes to be sent over to the war-torn country.

They were in Sainsbury’s in Bolton recently picking up hundreds of pounds of goods to be sent over for the final time.

The money spent was made up of donations from the people of Bolton, Bury and beyond, including £250 donated by The Bolton Lions and £50 from the supermarket.

By Christmas this year about 13,000 boxes filled with necessities and luxuries worth more than £120,000 will have been dispatched from the Bolton barracks after veteran Jack Dixon, who served as a sergeant with the Royal Artillery Association, started an appeal in 2006.

Boxes have been sent at May and December every year since then.

Twice a year, including at Christmas, he has co-ordinated the dispatch of thousands of boxes to Afghanistan.

Six hundred boxes will be dispatched for troops this December packed with everything from socks to cup-a-soups bringing the country’s biggest campaign to send comfort boxes to Afghanistan to an end following the news that troops are to be withdrawn from the country by the end of 2014.

Mr Dixon, who lives in Breightmet, said: “These boxes let the troops know that people back home are thinking of them. It does mean a lot to them.

"I have received so many letters from soldiers who say it boosts morale. Now we just have to fill the boxes.”

Mr Dixon, who lives in Breightmet, organised the appeal because of his personal experience of serving thousands of miles away from home.

He said: “People of Bolton and district and beyond have donated to the appeal, with the same people donating year after year.”

Geoff Hartley, aged 61, of The Bolton Lions, said: “it was an excellent day. We managed to fill two big trolleys full of food to send to the troops.”