A NEW games area for the children of forces families living at RAF Benson was officially opened by former England footballer Stuart Pearce yesterday.

The England under-21 managerjoined personnel and their families to unveil the facility provided by welfare charity the RAF Benevolent Fund as part of its £10m ‘Airplay’ project.

There are about 2,000 servicemen and 2,000 dependents at Benson.

Mr Pearce said “I’m only too aware that we live in a time when serving personnel are stretched on all sides, but it’s easy to forget that this impacts on their families too – not least their kids.”

Group Captain Richard Mason, RAF Benson’s station commander, added: “With almost a third of our personnel deploying every year on operations, the impact on our children should not be underestimated.”