Trip to Afghanistan

25th January 2010

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There was frustration and disappointment when The British Forces Foundation's trip to entertain troops in Afghanistan had to be aborted.

Singer James Blunt and comedians Jim Davidson OBE, Clive Cooper and Greg Cook were all set to perform for servicemen and women in the Forward Operating Bases.

The BFF party met up in Dubai and planned to fly into Afghanistan from a military airbase – even making it as far as taking their seats on the RAF aircraft. However, a series of delays and mechanical failures put pay to them getting any further.

"Along with 160 other people we were left waiting to get on the flight but in the end it wasn't to be," said BFF Director Mark Cann. "We simply ran over our tolerance time for delays, which was 36 hours, and we had to withdraw.

"Unfortunately, the nature of taking big stars is that they are always on tight schedules and we can never expose them to undue delays – forcing them to break a contract or missing a concert commitment.

"That is why, after 36 hours, even though we had been able to juggle our programmes significantly, we were unable to take the risk of any further delays."

Despite the disappointment for all concerned in helping to organise the trip, The British Forces Foundation is ready to go again in the near future.