Scouts from Eden and Keswick were among the thousands of young people evacuated from the World Jamboree campsite in South Korea.
The calamitous event made headlines around the world after going from bad to worse with complaints of overflowing rubbish bins, dirty toilets and bug-infested fields.
Taking place amid a searing heatwave and also threatened by a looming typhoon, the trip to South Asia was nothing if not memorable, with a COVID outbreak too.
Aoife Beck, from Shap, and Ben Webster, from Penrith, shrugged off the mishaps as UK Scouts leaders — whose motto is “be prepared” — managed to plan an enjoyable revised programme to make up for the rocky start.
Aoife and Ben are both 14-year-old “Hoosiders” explorer scouts, based at Shap.
They, along with Nicholas Richter, aged 15, who is a member of the Loki explorer group in Kirkby Stephen, jetted out to South Korea, along with Keswick explorer scout Tristan Stott-Bonsen, also 15.
After touching down in Seoul they travelled to the Jamboree site in Saemangeum. The Eden trio were part of a team of 18 from Cumbria who joined up with 33 others from across the north west of England.
With a 4,500-strong contingent from the UK, in total there were 43,000 from over 150 countries.
But the mounting safety concerns prompted the UK contingent to pull out.
A spokesman for the Eden and Cumbria scouts confirmed to the Herald that all concerned are safe and well in Seoul and are now enjoying a revised programme.
“They are having a great time, not the one intended, but one to be remembered forever,” the spokesman said.
“In many ways they will learn more about Korea than they would have done, they had a good few days on site mixing with world scouts, but the wise decision to move was, despite initial frustrations, well wise!
“We are all grateful to the team of leaders out there looking out for our children,” the spokesman added.
The three-week experience was meant to include 12 days on site with the rest spent sightseeing in Korea, including a visit to the demilitarised zone at the border with North Korea
Taking place every four years, the Jamboree is essentially a youth cultural exchange. The venue moves around the world, with Poland set to be the next destination.
Matt Hyde, Scouts UK chief executive, said on Monday: “We’ve just relocated 4,500 young people and adult volunteers away from the Jamboree site to Seoul and they’re all in hotel rooms and the Jamboree journey continues here in Seoul.
“I am truly inspired by the response of our adult volunteers and our young people as I arrived upstairs in a hall yesterday as young people were arriving and it was so inspiring to see their response.
“They were singing campfire songs. There was someone on the piano. They are a credit to scouting and a credit to the UK.”
