A Withycombe grandmother of a Royal Marine serving in Afghanistan is appealing for baseball caps and water bombs to help them ward off the searing desert heat.

The Afghan summer can get as hot as 35 degree Celsius and Kate Perkin, from Sturges Road, whose grandson, David Williams, 23, of 40 Commando, wants to help them cool off.

She said: “I wanted ideas what to send my grandson and his colleagues and I was in Trago Mills and asked a military policeman who was collecting for Help for Heroes. He said they needed baseball caps because of the heat – I sent him one and got a letter back asking for one for each of the 14 members of his section!”

She added that they also needed distractions to help relieve the boredom that set in between the fighting.

“Recently, my daughter sent out some water bombs – it sounds childish but they loved them, especially in this heat.”

You can contact Kate at; kate1perkin@yahoo.co.uk.

“Anything like that footballs, playing cards, board games – anything to relieve the monotony.”