ALMOST 100 lucky scouts from Chorley will be jetting off to Canada next week as part of a North American jamboree.

Scouts from five local groups will make their Atlantic crossing next Monday and Thursday - and the trip was so popular that hundreds more youngsters were left disappointed.

The teenagers, aged between 11 and 16, will make separate journeys from Manchester and Birmingham airports and both groups will be staying in two different camps near Niagara, in North East Canada.

Scouts from Hollinshead Street, Astley Village, Clayton Brook, Chorley Healey and Red Bank will join more than 300 others from West Lancashire for the mass gathering which starts on Monday July 21 and lasts for two weeks.

Scouts PR man, Ken Rutter, said: "Every eight years we have a trip abroad and every four years after that we have a camp in this country.

"We've never been to Canada before and this trip proved so successful that it was over-subscribed, so we had to book the places on a first come first serve basis."

The fortnight will include a 200-mile mountain trek and canoeing through rapids. Ken added: "This is a wonderful opportunity to travel abroad and it's what scouting is all about."

The scouts would like to thank Lancashire Fire Brigade for the use of their Washington Hall premises where they will be staying before the flights.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.