Scouts from Telford take part in Scout Skills Festival in West Virginia

Nate Osbourne, 15, from Ketley Bank and Rihanna Jones, 14, from Ironbridge have been chosen alongside 5,000 other Scouts from the UK to join 40,000 others taking part in the World Scout Jamboree.

The Jamboree is a skills and adventure festival happening right now in wild and wonderful West Virginia. They have joined Unit 82 with 35 others from across the region. They will be meeting 45,000 Scouts from nearly every country in the world – sharing skills while enjoying high adventure in this picturesque part of North America.

Rihanna said, "I've just been climbing and there was such a friendly atmosphere with everyone working as a team to encourage people to get to the top of the wall. I've been talking to so many people from Chillie, Brazil and Europe, learning about their cultures and hearing stories from them."

"There are no barriers here, you can talk to everyone!"

The Jamboree offers young people the chance to learn new skills that they can use in other aspects of their life and taste high adventure. The World Scout Jamboree is the culmination of two years of work for the leaders, which has involved camps and team building events preparing the young people for living on a humid site in West Virginia amongst Scouts from nearly every country in the world.

Nate said, "I have just completed climbing on the boulder wall at the Jamboree, I really had to trust myself as I was climbing so that I knew I could get to the top. It was incredible getting to climb next to people from such a variety of countries - it was surreal. The jamboree just feels like one massive family, I really felt this last night at the Opening Ceremony as there was an amazing atmosphere. It was so worth all the effort fundraising to get here for this once in a lifetime experience."

The event was opened by UK Chief Scout Bear Grylls, who said: ‘World Scout Jamborees only happen every four years and tens of thousands of Scouts attend each one. They are incredible festivals of peace, friendship and adventure. Young people will make friends for life with people from over 150 countries, experience different food, language and culture while learning new skills. It will be the journey of a lifetime.

Rihanna added "The opening ceremony last night was WOW! So many people all together and Bear Grylls abseiled in from the top of the stage. It was magical!"

‘The 2019 Jamboree, jointly hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico, is set to be one of the biggest and most exciting yet. The theme is ”Unlock a new world” – focusing especially on how we can create a sustainable world together.’