Scouts have been chosen to head to America for one of the biggest jamborees ever held.

Leaders from the Greater London North World Scout Jamboree Unit chose 36 Scouts and Explorers from north London boroughs on Sunday who will head to Beckley, West Virginia to join 45,000 others in the largest World Scout Jamboree.

The World Scout Jamboree is held every four years since 1920, bringing together young people from 167 countries, with 2019 being the next one to come up.

John Ringer, assistant unit leader, said: "All of us leaders are so proud of the 36 amazing young people in our unit, every single one of whom is a shining example of the very best of scouting, and they should be very proud of themselves indeed."

More than 150 young people applied to join the unit in order to be part of the event, with each of them going through two selection camps to try to gain a spot.

The unit will need to raise £4,000 per Scout in order for them to join the World Scout Jamboree, and they are determined to do so as a unit.

Mr Ringer continued: "Our driving mission is to ensure that jamboree adventure is open to everyone in our unit, regardless of family circumstances. That means we will all work together to fundraise within our local communities every penny of our £164,000 target.

"Young people, parents and leaders came together brilliantly as one unit at the launch, getting to know one another, and sharing ideas for how we can reach our collective goal.

"Our fourth Scout Law says 'A Scout belongs to the world-wide family of Scouts', and the fifth says 'A Scout has courage in all difficulties.' That is what our unit is all about, and both those traits were on display in spades at the launch."

The unit are now working on their fundraising programme to ensure each young person can join the group.