FIFTY-SEVEN Scouts and Cubs set off on the camping trip of a lifetime yesterday after their leaders won £15 million on the National Lottery.

Paul and Thea Bristow paid about £500,000 to charter a Boeing 767 and fly the pack and 33 adults to Canada for the two-week adventure holiday.

The couple who have run the 1st Torbay (St Mary’s Church) Cubs in Torquay for more than 20 years said that they were happy to share their good fortune. Mr Bristow, who is Akela, said: “There’s no point in winning the lottery unless you give something back to your community. It’s just great to be able to do something like this for them.”

His wife bought the winning ticket in July 2004. The couple still live in the same terraced house and the trip to Canada is their biggest extravagance by far. Mrs Bristow, a mother of three, said: “They were very pleased and excited. There were one or two who initially said they weren’t going for fear of bears, but we’ve talked them round now.”

As they took off from Exeter Airport yesterday the Cubs and Scouts, aged 8 to 18, were looking forward to a holiday of canoeing, climbing, abseiling and swimming in British Columbia.

When they won the jackpot the Bristows were facing a financial crisis. Mrs Bristow, the family breadwinner since her husband was forced to give up work as a zookeeper because of ill-health, had been told she was being made redundant. Mr Bristow said: “As soon as the news broke we had dozens of applications to join, but we only allowed the ones who were already members to come.”

The party includes all committee members who helped to run the pack over the past 20 years. John Evans, 16, said: “I have been in the Scouts and Cubs for nine years and the farthest we have been before is Jersey. It is just crazy. I could not believe it when Thea said she would take us all on holiday.”

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