Four young scouts are halfway to reaching their dream of taking part in the world’s biggest scouting event.

As the Herald reported previously, Euan Ferguson, Katie Roy, Liam Hamilton and Charlie Clark of the 19th Kilwinning Scouts were selected to attend the 24th World Scout Jamboree.

The youngsters need to raise almost £16,000 between them to take them to next year’s event in West Virginia. But after a year of tirelessly fundraising, the hopeful teens still need the support of the community.

Alan Roy, ESL at Kilwinning Scouts, said: “Roughly speaking they’re about halfway there. It’s not just a weekend, it’s something that takes years to hone the skills and they’ve all worked very hard for this.

“They were away last week up at Paisley for training. They were placed in the middle Glasgow and given a fiver and told to source something from a charity shop. That also meant they were crossing the roads, thinking together, planning where the shops were and what ones to go to, working as a team. It’s all training but the kids don’t see it like that. It’s all good fun when you’re 14.”

As part of their next fundraiser, Euan 16, Katie and Liam, both 14, and 13-year-old Charlie will be doing bag packs at M&S.

Alan said: “We’ve done a few of these [bag packs] over the years and it’s surprising how tiring lifting a can of beans for hours is. They’ll sleep well after that.”

He added: “Katie will be the third member of our family to attend the World Scout Jamboree.

“I was fortunate enough to attend the jamboree in 1983 and my eldest daughter went to the 2015 one in Japan. You can imagine when Katie was being interviewed the incredible pressure she felt. It was a big emotional achievement for me when Katie got it. We didn’t want her not to try for it but then we also didn’t want her to lose out and not get it. “

Euan, Katie, Liam and Charlie will be at M&S in Irvine from 9am-5pm on December 22, 23 and 24. Donations can also be made at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/darren-clark-4 .