Parting gift as Welsh Guards and Royal Welsh head to Afghanistan

Over the next few weeks hundreds of Welsh soldiers will be deployed to Afghanistan for a six-month tour of duty, but they will have a special cuddly friend in their packs.

The army welfare service is sending a teddy bear called Tudor out with the troops to help their children cope with separation from their parents.

Children will be able to write to Tudor in Afghanistan, while soldiers will send photographs home of themselves with the bear.

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and 1st Battalion Royal Welsh will be taking over from another Welsh regiment, The Queen's Dragoon Guards.

The deployment will see two further full Welsh battalions serving in theatre on the same tour.

Meanwhile, the Band of the Welsh Guards is touring Wales and holding workshops at schools ahead of the deployment.

The band visited Penglais Secondary School in Aberystwyth on Wednesday, and played at the town's arts centre in the evening.

BBC Radio Wales' Kayley Thomas has met some of the Welsh Guards, including brothers Liam and David Evans, from Llangefni, at their London barracks.