01 SIMPLY THE BECKS

IT was May 2010. It had been six weeks in the planning, but even up to the last day CSE was not sure it would go ahead. But, on the morning of Friday, May 21 it became very real indeed when CSE entertainment manager Angie Avlianos turned up at RAF Brize Norton with a very precious cargo.
It started small, but soon the buzz was tangible. Everyone was doing double-takes. Mobile phones and cameras were whipped out of pockets. Smiles of incredulity were spreading... yes, that really was David Beckham about to board the flight to Afghanistan.
“When we walked into the cookhouse in Bastion for breakfast on the first morning of the tour I was overwhelmed by the reaction,” said Avlianos. “It’s a rare thing to see our troops quite so animated and excited about any visitor. The looks of excitement and delight at having such a superstar in their cookhouse were priceless.”
The three days of Becks’ visit were a blur of meet and greets; Q and A sessions; autograph signings; and posing for photos. “To see our heroes meet their hero and get so much from it was amazing to witness,” said Avlianos. “David spoke many times about what an honour it was to meet the troops and visit Afghanistan and you could tell he meant every word.
“What came across was that despite his superstar status he’s just a thoroughly nice bloke who genuinely cares about what the British Forces are going through. He really wanted to do his bit to boost morale and he did that in absolute spades.”
And for the whole team it was a
long-held ambition to get David out to
Afghanistan fulfilled. Top that, CSE!