SCOUTS from Ammanford and the Towy Valley have been honoured by international adventurer Chief Scout Bear Grylls at Windsor Castle for gaining their Queen's Scouts Awards.

Gareth Duffy from Ammanford and Ieuan Gregory from Llandeilo were amongst over 500 new Queen's Scouts from across the UK who were greeted by Bear and joined by HRH Duke of Kent, President of The Scout Association.

The Queen's Scout Award is the highest honour in Scouting and is awarded for outstanding personal achievement.

This honour is achieved by young people aged between 16 and 25 who have completed a range of challenges, which includes service to their community, completing an expedition in wild country, undertaking a five-day residential project in an unfamiliar environment and learning a new skill or developing an existing talent.

Ieuan Gregory said “Gaining my Queen’s Scout Award has been awesome.

For the service part of the Award, I assisted in running a welsh language club at my secondary school which encouraged pupils in the lower years to feel comfortable in speaking welsh with their friends.

Chief Scout Bear Grylls said "All these young people have lived the adventure of a lifetime to achieve their Queen’s Scout Awards, and I admire that spirit so much. They are huge inspirations to the other 550,000 Scouts in the UK and I am so pleased that both Scouting has honoured them today. They are amazing.”

The Windsor Castle event has been held regularly since 1934 on the Sunday nearest to St George's Day.

St George is the Patron Saint of Scouting. Since the Queen’s Scout Award was instigated, over 100,000 of these awards have been presented to young men and women for outstanding personal achievements and service to their local communities. They have learnt new skills and taken part in many of the 200 different adventurous activities on offer by Scouting across the UK.