TWO South Hams Explorer Scouts based in Kingsbridge were among a group of eight young people from the UK who attended the eighth Russian Jamboree.

Ingrid Trinick and Kerensa Lewis, from Kingsbridge Community College attended the event in Borodino at the end of August, visited Moscow and travelled home by train across the continent.

Ingrid also represented UK Scouting, carrying the Flag at the opening ceremony of the event, held at the historical Borodino monument.

Borodino is the site of the historical 1812 Napoleonic Battle and is an important Archaeological site.

The girls joined 2,500 young people from across the world, and made friends from Russia, Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Poland.

They are now hoping that some of them will come and visit Devon at the Run to the Fun Fourth Scouting Jamboree in 2018.

Kerensa said: ‘This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’ll always remember it. I made lots of friends and hopefully we will stay in touch forever. It was all amazing!’

Ingrid said: ‘It was an amazing experience, especially as we got to go somewhere where we wouldn’t have been able to visit until recently. I made some lifelong friends and it was an incredible experience.

‘It was really interesting to learn how different scouts do things from around the world. And everyone in Moscow was really friendly, unlike London and other capital cities I’ve been to.’

Explorers is a scouting group for young people, aged 14 to 18 years.