The soldiers - four military policemen and a singing Army chef - played the gig, at the UK Contingency Operating Base in Basra, to raise money for the Help For Heroes charity.

Parched of live music, halfway through his seven month tour of Iraq, Military Policeman and drummer Lieutenant Dave Wilton hit on the idea of putting a band together to raise morale among his fellow troops. Dave didn't have to look far for band members; his own deployed unit, 158 Provost Company (Royal Military Police) had talent in abundance.

Guitarists Corporal Ben Leeves and Lance Corporal Phil Smith, bassist Lance Corporal Scott Carney and the Company's own singing chef, Corporal Paul Maidment, all soon rose to the Lieutenant's call and 'The Basra City Rollers' were born.

Due to the strict allowance given to troops for taking personal belongings to theatre, none of the band members had taken their instruments with them to Iraq - nor were there any to be had on the base. Not one to be deterred, Lt Wilton approached all the musical instrument manufacturers he could think of, explaining the plight of the would-be band, and asked for their help.

Fender Guitars, Premier Percussion and Peavey Electronics soon agreed to donate the necessary instruments and a PA system. Then came the wait. In the meantime, Dave and the band members got to work planning a set list:

"It was quite easy, because we all have similar musical tastes," said front man Cpl Paul Maidment. "We knew that we wouldn't have very much time to practise, so we kept the set simple and fairly commercial going for stuff like Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', 'Song 2' by Blur, 'The Kids Aren't Alright' by the Offspring, the Arctic Monkeys' 'Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor', and 'Gay Bar' by Electric Six, which was a lot of fun!"

With just weeks to go until the end of the Company's tour, the equipment finally arrived in theatre. The band had previously decided that any surplus equipment would be auctioned and money raised would be donated to new Service charity, Help for Heroes; as luck would have it, there was a spare guitar and an electronic drum kit in the offing for the charity raffle.

The band secured a slot at the 'Echos' cafe in the welfare village, where soldiers head for a milkshake and some 'downtime', and for the next couple of weeks, the boys put all their free time into rehearsing, selling raffle tickets and promoting the gig:

"Being a chef, I would finish work at about eight o'clock, then go off to practise with the boys until 1am," said Paul. "Our bassist [LCpl Scott Carney] had been away from the base on detachment until the day before the gig, and we had to go through the set with him at the last minute."

Although it had been over three months since the band had got together, the delay in getting their instruments, and bassist Scott's detachment, meant that the band had only been able to put together a set of seven songs, and, with just two weeks remaining of their tour, the gig would be both their first and last in theatre.

In spite of the numerous obstacles they had had to overcome, The Basra City Rollers delivered a great performance to an appreciative crowd. Captain Lorna Ward was one of those in the audience:

"The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the music, and insisted on two encores," she said. "Nirvana was a firm favourite!"

The gig was a huge success with the raffle raising some US$1,500 (£750) for the Help For Heroes charity, which is aiming to raise £5m for the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court, in Surrey.