A survival club has opened up the world for youngsters who are living in under-privileged areas of South-West Durham.

Young members of The Pilgrim Club, in Shildon, are being inundated with invites from across the world to take part in exchange trips.

The first invitation is from a group of youngsters from Egypt. The group is expected to visit Shildon at the beginning of August for a ten-day stay.

Up to 16 people from The Pilgrim Club will make a return trip to the land of the pyramids at a later date.

Invites have also come from outdoor clubs in Romania, Jordan, Turkey, Armenia, Serbia and Bulgaria.

Councillor John Cutting, who started the club in September two years ago, to give youngsters in Shildon and the surrounding area something positive to focus on, said the club and exchange scheme had taken off far beyond his expectations. He said: "The Pilgrim Club has come a long way since it started.

"It is now giving these youngsters opportunities they would have never dreamed of.

"Many of them have never been abroad and now we are talking about going to Egypt."

The exchange trip to Egypt is being made possible with European funding and it is hoped further funding could enable the group to accept invites from other countries.

The club started out as a way of giving young people a chance to learn how to cope outdoors through basic survival skills.

Now the group has got a permanent home and meets weekly at The Resthouse, Hackworth Park, and is offering a host of activities, including the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.

The group organises regular trips to places such as the Lake District and is looking forward to taking its Egyptian friends there for canoeing, raft building, mountain biking, climbing and abseiling.

Coun Cutting said that the club is a part of the Community Empowerment Network and its organisers hope to offer the use of its equipment and activities to other clubs in the Sedgefield borough area.

Coun Cutting said: "Over the past year, we have spent money on equipment and volunteer training and that has enabled us to provide a lot more activities and we want to throw this open to other groups in the Sedgefield borough."