I would like to say a massive thank you to all the members of the IW Smile Club for their efforts in preparing and sending boxes as part of IW Operation Shoebox.

I have ten personnel who were deployed on operations away from their families and loved ones for four months over Christmas, they all received a Christmas box full of treats and useful items from the IW Smile Club.

This was a great morale boost for them and definitely put a smile on their faces.

One of them, a young single lad went into strict isolation for ten days due to Covid on December 23, so his box especially was well-received and welcomed, it cheered him up no end.

For myself, having grown up and worked on the IW before joining the Royal Air Force in 1998, it was particularly pleasing to know that the people there take the time and effort to put these amazing boxes together.

I can’t thank them enough.

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