Dad’s 'sweet' gesture for soldier

Dennis Rigg and Tony Croston weigh-in the sweets at Castleton Post Office.

The father of a soldier serving in Afghanistan has thought up an unusual way to cheer his son up while he is away from home.

Tony Croston, sought help from fellow churchgoers from Zion Baptist Church, Deeplish, to collect 11kg of sweets and treats to be posted over and shared out among troops.

His son, Scott Croston, 20, from Rochdale, has been serving in the British Army for over a year and mentioned to his dad that such treats are hard to come by, leading to the thoughtful gesture from the church.

Mr Croston said: "We thought it would be a nice gesture to the lads out there because they can't get hold of things like sweets.

"We've collected 11kg of sweets and they will be gone in no time because they will get shared out to all the troops."

Pastor of Zion Baptist Church, Dennis Rigg said: "I know from the response we have got from members of the church that this is a great idea and the troops will be over the moon

"We hope this will be the first of many packages that we can send. As long as the packages are under 2.2kg each we can post them for free."