A GUIDE leader from Darwen will experience life in the Land of the Midnight Sun this summer as part of an international jamboree camp.

Blackburn College student Sarah-Jane Hawthorn, 18, is accompanying 15 other guides and leaders to Iceland in July, where they will meet other guides and scouts from other countries.

Sarah-Jane, of Powell Street, a leader since January with the 8th Darwen St James's guide unit, has already raised more than £300 towards the £1,075 she needs for her trip.

Money-spinning events have included table-top and Thinking Day sales as well as trips to cash and carry store Makro in Preston to stock up on sweets which she sells on to guides in her unit.

Sarah-Jane has also been supported by her parents, Wendy and David, and her sister Ann-Marie, 22, as well as guides and fellow students at Blackburn College, where she is studying for A-levels in General Studies and Physical Education and AS levels in Maths and History.

The former pupil of Moorland County High School has been associated with the Girl Guides since she was seven, first joining the brownies and later the guides.

She said: "I'm looking forward to it. I've been told it will be hot during the day but very cold at night."

In the summer, Iceland experiences almost 24 hours of daylight.