Shropshire Scouts settle in to Seoul after global jamboree is evacuated amid heatwave
Shropshire's Scout delegation have settled into their temporary accommodation in Seoul after they and others were evacuated from the World Scout Jamboree early over safety concerns.
The scorching heatwave hitting South Korea meant the end to a coastal adventure for the World Scout Jamboree, as organisers arranged for participants to be moved to hotels in the capital, Seoul.
A group of around 27 scouts from Shropshire are among 4,500 from the UK and 43,000 scouts from 158 countries that travelled to Gunsan-si in South Korea for the Jamboree.
Soaring temperatures last week caused the UK Scouts to move their units out of the campsite early after authorities issued the country's highest-level heat warning in four years.
Now, the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) said that it had received confirmation from the South Korean government that, due to the expected impact of Typhoon Khanun, an early departure would be planned for all participants from the campsite in SaeManGeum.
The Scouts UK have confirmed their units have been allocated their accommodation, with the Shropshire unit settling well into the country's capital.
An update from the national organisation said: "The UK Embassy and the mayor of Seoul are also supporting the UK team with developing programme activities so our young people still get the most from the rest of their Jamboree experience in South Korea.
"We know leaving the Jamboree site may be a disappointment for some, but we will continue the Jamboree experience in Seoul. Young people will travel home as originally planned from August 13.
"While we have been on site at the Jamboree, the UK volunteer team has worked extremely hard with the organisers, for our youth members and adult volunteers to have enough food and water to sustain them, shelter from the unusually hot weather, and toilets and washing facilities appropriate for an event of this scale."
Eddie Hulme, Shropshire Scouts' County Commissioner, said they were in daily contact with the unit in Seoul, and regular contact with parents in Shropshire.
"Though disappointed at leaving the site at the weekend... they settled well in a hotel in Seoul. Yesterday they were guests at a local soccer game at Mok-Dong Stadium with thousands of other scouts.
"They went out to a Korean restaurant last night and are eating well, and today they have visited Gyeongbokgung Palace."
Mr Hulme added the unit has "no plans" to cut the stay short, with a programme of activities taking the scouts through to August 12, and a planned five-day extension was still set to take place.
The UK Scouts chief executive suggested the organisation would be facing an impact on its activities for up to five years after spending £1 million evacuating youngsters from the world jamboree.
On Monday, Matt Hyde said the money used to move 4,500 Scouts and adult volunteers into hotels in the country's capital Seoul was taken from its "reserves".
He told the BBC: "We had commitments to those reserves that will of course mean that we can't now do things that we wanted to do over the next three to five years.
"We feel let down by the organisers because we repeatedly raised some of these concerns before we went, and during, and we were promised things were going to be put in place and they weren't."
Mr Hyde said that they had raised concerns about food, the heat and medical services available at the site, but he was "truly inspired" by the response of the volunteers and young people.
