THE Magpies have got the ball rolling by backing the Echo’s Treats for Troops Campaign. The campaign to provide troops and service personnel serving on the frontline in Afghanistan with morale-boosting gifts has gone from strength to strength in the last week.

Hundreds of items have been donated just days after the Echo joined forces with the Dorchester Comfort Box Appeal to send as many shoeboxes to named soldiers as possible.

Now Dorchester Town Football Club have thrown their weight behind the campaign.

Assistant manager Ashley Vickers said: “We all feel for the troops over there and we’ll do anything to show our support for them. I take my hat off to the soldiers and servicemen out there for everything they are doing for our country. Obviously they are working in really difficult conditions out there and our thoughts are with them.”

This week people in the community across West Dorset have been packaging up parcels crammed with goodies or donating items in the collection in around the towns.

A group of pensioners at Bayeux Court and Crossways Court in Dorchester rolled up their sleeves and packed box after box for troops as well as writing letters.

Mother Marcy Cross, 38, of Chickerell Road, Weymouth, said that she had a lot of fun making three boxes with her two sons, aged six and nine.

She said: “It’s good for the boys to see that we are thinking of the soldiers abroad and I was surprised how much the boys loved it.

“Hopefully when our packages reach the soldiers they will realise that there are people thinking of them all these miles away in Dorset.”

The first parcels are due to be packaged and sent to Afghanistan in the next few weeks.

n If you can help us pack the boxes or if you know someone serving in Afghanistan or Iraq, contact Miriam Phillips on 01305 830985 or email miriam.phillips @dorsetecho.co.uk