Tim Westwood in Afghanistan

9th February 2011

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The 'Big Dawg' from Radio One - DJ Tim Westwood - travelled to Afghanistan with The British Forces Foundation to deliver a high octane boost to morale among the troops. He described it as a "moment for life" and bigged up The BFF for making it happen. First up was a visit to Camp Bastion where he met servicemen and women going about their everyday routines - including staff and patients in the hospital. There was even time to squeeze in a bit of radio with an interview for BFBS. "Tim played some music in the cookhouse, answered questions and posed for photos," said BFF Director Mark Cann. "There was plenty of banter and chat, and the guys were really pleased to see him." The party then flew on to Kandahar for another day of meeting more British troops. This culminated in Tim playing a set in the Heroes coffee bar that night which was enthusiastically received. "It was a great achievement," said Mark Cann. "Tim really connected with the younger soldiers - the 18 to 30 year-olds; don't forget, this is a guy who's had 90 million viewers for his online TV station, gets 150,000 hits per day on his website and has more than 30,000 followers on Facebook." The two day trip actually spanned four days including the travel time - which saw a 3am start at Brize Norton, and the first 48 hours with no more than a couple of hours sleep. But that didn't faze Tim. "It was a moment for life," he said. "It was an incredible experience, so rewarding and inspiring- to see the guys out there, the job they do, what they are achieving and the personal sacrifices that they make. "Without The BFF I would never have got out there; they really made it happen. They gave me the opportunity to meet those people, play some music and really connect. Big up The BFF."