AN Army band is getting ready to join troops for its first tour of Afghanistan.

Members of the Colchester-based Band of the Parachute Regiment will be sent out over Christmas, for six weeks, to boost morale and offer respite for serving soldiers, including their colleagues in the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Parachute Regiment, who are currently serving in Helmand.

Troops will be treated to traditional marching band music, as well as the sort of contemporary tunes they listen to on their iPods.

The 27 members were visited by Colonel Mark Cuthbert-Brown, director of the Corps of Army Music, at Merville Barracks yesterday, as he wished them well for their tour during rehearsals.

He said: “It is immensely important to the morale of troops and the music can make a very big difference. And the band are up for it. I have been pushing for this and I would have a band there permanently if I could.”

Among those ready to go are soldiers with young families who admitted their children would miss them over Christmas, but who recognised this was an important time to make a difference to front-line colleagues on their latest six-month tour.

The musicians will be split between Camp Bastion and operating bases and will also join up with some of their American colleagues.

Captain David Hammond is being deployed as the band’s director of music. He is leaving behind a wife and six-year-old twins.

He said: “Everyone is raring to go and we have been well prepared. It is always difficult for families but it is an essential time for us to do the job.”

Bandmaster Oliver Jeans plays the flute and piccolo and is going on his first deployment since joining the Army and the band, leaving behind a wife in Colchester. He said: “I am looking forward to it and am glad we are going out as part of the brigade (16 Air Assault). It is important for them to see us get involved. It is hard to leave your wife, but you take it in your stride if you marry someone who is in the Army, and I have her support.

“In one way it is unfortunate it is over Christmas, but in another it is important as a particularly poignant time for people.

The Harwich Royal British Legion brass band will fill in at the para band’s traditional Christmas concert in Colchester, at St Botolph’s Church, from 7.30pm on December 15.