LETTERS of support and appreciation from home bring a smile to the faces of RAF Odiham personnel out in Afghanistan.

That’s the experience of the boys and girls at Mayhill Junior School, many of whom have parents in the RAF who will be heading out to Afghanistan this Christmas.

The school is backing The Gazette’s Operation Merry Christmas campaign by writing their own letters and Christmas cards to those RAF Odiham personnel who will spend the festive period in Afghanistan.

Year 6 pupil Emily Coles said her father will spend Christmas in the war-torn country – and he has already been there three times in the past five years.

Her father Squadron Leader John “Pez” Coles will fly out as part of an attachment to C Flight of 27 Squadron in December.

Emily, 10, who lives on RAF Odiham, told The Gazette: “I think the campaign is a good idea. Everybody out there is very excited when they get a letter.

“It is really nice when they get a letter from somebody who they do not know because they have a big smile on their faces.”

Head teacher John Gawthorpe said that around 80 pupils – roughly a third of the school’s population – have parents who are based at RAF Odiham.

To take part in Operation Merry Christmas, write a Christmas card or a letter of no more than 300 words and send it into Chris Gregory, Gazette News-papers, Gazette House, Pelton Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 6YD, by Friday, November 20.

Chris will deliver the messages to RAF Odiham so that the men and women from C Flight of 27 Squadron can take them with them when they leave for Afghanistan at the start of December.