Scouts from Sudbury were among 4,000 other youngsters from across the UK who attended a winter camp at Gilwell Park in Epping Forest.

The three-day camp kicked off this year’s centenary celebrations of #Gilwell100 which marks the park becoming adopted by the Scout Movement back in 1919 as a training centre for young people and leaders from the East End of London.

The modern-day scouts, aged 10 to 14, learnt the skills of putting up tents, cooking, empathy and looking after each other in winter camping conditions.

As well as surviving the weather they tried out activities like the 3G swing, abseiling, white water rafting and climbing.

Scouts under 17 years of age even got their first chance to get behind the wheel of a car on a specially constructed under-17 driving experience.

The combination of surviving the winter weather and trying out a range of adventure based activities tested each scout’s resilience.

Among the Sudbury attendees were 12-year-old Dylan Cook and Elliott Sparks, 13, of the 3rd Sudbury Sea Scouts.

Elliott said: “I’ve been doing lots of adventurous activities such as climbing. I’m a Sea Scout so have done a lot of kayaking and canoeing we learn skills such as how to cope when you capsize, so you can get out of trouble in an emergency.”