SCOUTS from Chippenham will be part of a Scout contingency representing their county and country at the world jamboree next year.

Eighteen Scouts from Wiltshire, including four from Chippenham, have been selected to join more than 30,000 Scouts from across the world for the celebration in December 2002 in Thailand.

Every Scout needs to raise £2,500 for the trip and at a special camp this weekend at Scout headquarters, at Potterne Wick, near Devizes, they will launch their appeal for money.

Fundraising has already started but the group has quite a way to go.

Chippenham Cub Scout leader Cath Smith will be going to Thailand with the group. "We have a lot of money to raise but everyone is determined to do it," she said.

The theme of next year's jamboree is 'Share our World, Share our Cultures'. The Scouts fly out to Thailand a few days before Christmas and return on January 15.

Jamborees take place once every four years.