Southwick Scout to climb height of Burj Khalifa in a day to raise money for his dream trip to South Korea for the 25th World Scout Jamboree

Shoreham Academy student Barney Silburn, 14, has been part of the climbing squad at Highsports in Withdean for five years and is putting his expertise to the test to support the Adur Valley District contingent for the 2023 jamboree.

He hopes to raise at least £600 by climbing the height of the world’s largest building in one day on Saturday, May 21.

Barney, one of the Scouts selected to go to South Korea, said: “The jamboree itself is a 12-day long, international celebration. It is going to be amazing.

“What I decided to do was to raise money by climbing. At Highsports, the climbing wall is 13 metres tall. This means that to achieve my goal, I will have to have to scale it 73 times, all over the course of one day.

“I am going to recruit my instructors, my friends and my mum to belay me up and down, and will spend from now till then training for stamina and endurance.

“It’s a huge challenge and all the money raised will go towards my fundraising for the World Scout Jamboree.”

Adur Valley District covers Shoreham, Lancing, Steyning, Southwick, Upper Beeding, Henfield, Sompting, Bramber and Partridge Green and more than 30 people from the area put themselves forward for the unique opportunity to join more than 40,000 Scouts from 150 countries in a series of exciting challenges and experiences.

The lucky seven Explorer Scouts to be selected were Barney, George Harvey, Erin Sprules, Lucy Warwick, Holly-Rose Finn, Brandon Barnes and Aidan Stringer. They will be travelling with two leaders from the district, Jacky Finn and Nigel Wilks.

Fiona Dunn, Barney’s mum, said: “This amazing life experience run by the World Organisation of the Scout Movement is such an amazing opportunity, especially after the very difficult two years.

“The seven Scouts selected for this trip from Adur have been hard at work raising money. Barney has decided to do this incredibly tough climb. He has been a committed rock climber since he was six years old. He first learned at Adur Rec and now climbs on the squad at Highsports at Withdean.

“He has been in training, taking himself down to Highsports each Sunday and climbing 30 times up and down. His coach and the staff will support him and I have learned to belay so I can also help him climb on the day. Hopefully, this will be an inspiration to others to have an adventure.”

The Adur Valley District team are working together to raise the £28,000 needed for the trip, including a car boot sale on Adur Recreation Ground on September 3 and individual challenges.

The World Scout Jamboree happens every four years, each time hosted by a different country. Those attending from the UK will be making a contribution to support Scouts from less fortunate countries.

Visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/barneyclimbs to make a donation.

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