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22nd July 1999

Success in bringing a £10 million project and 35,000 visitors to the United Kingdom is in the hands of 22 young people from Hampshire who leave Heathrow Airport on Sunday (25 July) for South Africa.

The Scouts, aged between 12 and 17, are from the 13th Itchen North (Hampshire) Scout Group and they are flying to Durban to mount a bid for the United Kingdom to be the host nation of the Centennial World Scout Jamboree in the year 2007. The UK Scout presentation will be the first ever made to the World Committee by young people.

World Scout Jamborees are held every four years and involve more people and more countries than the Olympic Games. The host nation is selected by the International World Scout Committee following presentations from competing countries.

If successful, The UK Scout Association will start an eight year long project to ensure that the 100th Anniversary of World Scouting is celebrated in the country that gave birth to the World Scout Movement. There are now more than 25 million Scouts in over 200 countries. (end)

Note to Editors:

The 2007 Centennial World Scout Jamboree is expected to bring 35,000 Scouts, aged 14 to 18 to the UK and more than 15,000 visitors a day for the ten day camp.

The most recent World Scout Jamboree was in Chile in January 1999. The next is Thailand in 2003.

For further information contact: Public Relationship (public.relations@scout.org.uk)