By Oliver Streather-Paul

A Weymouth Scout travelled to America to meet more than 45,000 scouts from nearly every country in the world at an event headlined by Bear Grylls.

Isobel Stainer, 16, headed to West Virginia to attend the 24th World Scout Jamboree, a 12-day skills festival dedicated to teaching young people teamwork, leadership and personal development.

She joined a contingent of 5,000 scouts from the UK, who have collectively trained for more than 48,000 days while raising £14 million from a collective 2.3 million hours of fundraising.

Isobel has been hiking Mount Jack, ziplining and climbing throughout the event taking place in the Summit Bechtel Reserve, a world-class sustainable jamboree site with more than 14,000 acres of forested mountains adjacent to more than 70,000 acres of scenic national park.

Isobel said: “I’m feeling amazing, it’s the best thing ever to have the experience of being able to see everyone in the same place and see how worldwide scouting is – the Jamboree gives me that opportunity.

“I’m most excited for being able to have conversations and make friends with people from all over the world.”

The event was opened by UK Chief Scout Bear Grylls.

He 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.

He added: “The 2019 Jamboree, jointly hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico is set to be the most exciting yet.

“The theme is ‘unlock a new world’ – focusing especially on how we can create a sustainable world together.”

The 24th World Scout Jamboree North America takes place over 12 days from Tuesday July 23 to Friday August 2 with 45,000 scouts attending from around the world.

The UK contingent is made up of participants, their unit leaders, the international service team and the contingent management and support team.