Chief Scout Bear Grylls Abseils In To Opening Celebration of World’s Largest Gathering of Young People

Scouts from almost every country on earth welcomed The UK Chief Scout to the World Scout Jamboree in Sweden yesterday. The UK Chief Scout made a 50m abseil into the middle of the opening ceremony celebrations and was welcomed by 39,000 youth participants and adult volunteers from across the globe.

There are 240 Scottish Scouts from all over Scotland participating as representatives from the UK in the World Scout Jamboree.

A musical extravaganza marked the opening of this seven day jamboree created to be the largest diverse, tolerant and demonstration of peace on earth. Youth members and leaders from nations as diverse as, Algeria, Rwanda, Bhutan, Colombia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Burkina Faso have been traveling for days to get to Sweden for the World Scout Jamboree and to see the UK’s Chief Scout’s daring entrance into the event.

For this truly international adventure the population of Rinkaby, Sweden has more than doubled with the influx of Scouts attending the 22nd World Scout Jamboree, and onsite for the jamboree there are more than double the number of participants than that expected to take part in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Over the next week the 39,000 22nd World Scout Jamboree participants will be experiencing an extraordinary programme of activities being created by a core team of 7000 adult volunteers from around the world. Participants will have the opportunity to take part in literally hundreds of activities focused on discovering new cultures, the environment and its vulnerability, sustainable development and global development issues.

Mandy Fletcher, 17 a Scottish participant from Glasgow said “It is incredible to be here. I feel so alive and in touch with other Scouts from around the world. I want to talk to each and every one of them.”

Andrew Chavet, a 16 year old Explorer Scout from Edinburgh said, “This is the best of my Scouting experiences. Being here with all these young people from around the world is beyond amazing. I will never forget this moment.”

Chief Scout, Bear Grylls said: “While lots of people know that Scouting is all about adventure, they often don’t realise that adult volunteers get to do just as much as our young members through their involvement. The World Scout Jamboree is a great example of this. Over the course of the Jamboree Scouts will be able to meet people from around the world, take part in amazing adventures and experiences and be challenged to think about global issues in a new light. That is why Scouting is one of the greatest youth movement on earth and why I am so proud to be part of it.”

For more information on the World Scout Jamboree, including images, videos and live updates from the Jamboree log onto http://www.worldscoutjamboree.se/