Crawley scouts receive congratulations from Bear Grylls for being chosen to represent the town in South Korea

Joseph McKeever (Fourth Worth/ Shackleton Explorers), Leo Dicken and Tom Payne (both from Seventh Crawley Scouts) have been selected to represent Crawley at the largest Scout Jamboree to be held in South Korea during 2023.

The Korean Jamboree taking place in 2023 will be the largest Scout camp to be held since the start of the Covid Pandemic, with 50,000 young people from almost every nation on earth to take part.

Joe, Leo and Tom are all from Crawley and are three of 3,240 young people that have been selected from the UK to join 50,000 scouts taking part in the World Scout Jamboree.

The Jamboree is a skills, cultural and adventure festival happening in sensational and scenic South Korea. In the summer of 2023, the three boys will be meeting thousands of Scouts from nearly every country in the world and sharing their skills.

This will be the first time that so many young people from so many different nations will be gathering together since the Pandemic began.

The World Scout Jamboree offers young people the chance to learn new skills that they can use in other aspects of their life, as well as campaign for change on key world issues that matter to them.

Joe, Leo and Tom have been selected because they have demonstrated teamwork and leadership abilities.

The World Scout Jamboree will be the culmination of 18 months’ work for the young people and their volunteer leaders.

In preparation for the event, young people from the UK Contingent have adopted a logo featuring a Siberian tiger, the national animal of Korea.

Between now and July 2023 Joe, Leo and Tom will attend training camps and team building events preparing them for living on the hot and humid site in SaeManGeum, South Korea.

Fundraising is a key part of the experience and the boys now have the challenge of raising £12,000.00 between them to cover the cost of the training weekends and the Jamboree itself.

The cost of participation for countries in the developed world is set higher than those in the developing countries to subsidise the attendance of Scouts from poorer nations, so any contribution to the boys’ fundraising will not only support them but also those in other, poorer countries.

The boys and their families have already made a start on their fundraising efforts and have things planned for the coming months

There is a GoFundMe Page set up if anyone would like to contribute that way.

The Korean hosts of the Jamboree have challenged participants to “Draw your Dream” and as part of their Jamboree journey Joe, Leo and Tom will have the opportunity to discover new cultures and take part in activities focusing on the environment, skills development and global development issues.

UK Chief Scout Bear Grylls said: ‘Congratulations to Joe, Leo and Tom and all those who have been selected to go on this amazing adventure! World Scout Jamborees only happen every four years and tens of thousands of Scouts from across the world attend each one.

“Young people will experience different cultures, languages and cuisine while learning new skills. After two very difficult years, it is so important that these young people have this opportunity.

“The 2023 Jamboree, hosted by Korea, is set to be one of the biggest and most exciting yet. The theme is ‘Think big. Dream wild. Act together’ , focusing especially on how we can be trailblazers in creating a sustainable world together.”

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