YOUNGSTERS in a west Dorset village can discover the bare necessities of being a scout after a new mural was unveiled.

Beavers, Cubs and Scouts at the 1st Charmouth Scout Group will no longer need to go to the cinema to see the Jungle Book, after Paula Silverthorne created the colourful design, inspired by Rudyard Kipling's famous book.

The end wall of the new training suite extension to the group's headquarters is now covered by a 4 x 2.5m mural depicting the main characters from The Jungle Book in their natural and wild surroundings.

Charmouth Scout leader, Kevin Payne, said: “As Baden-Powell used elements from the Jungle Book when he founded Wolf Cubs 100 years ago, we had the crazy idea of painting a mural in our new training suite.

"The only problem was none of the leaders could paint. Fortunately, one of the Cub parents – Paula Silverthorne - was a very skilled scenery painter and offered her services. However, none of us expected such a truly fantastic end result.”

All the main characters are featured in the art work including the feral child Mowgli. Akela the wolf, Baloo the bear, Shere Khan the tiger, Kaa the snake and Bagheera the black panther.

Ms Silverthorne said: "I was delighted to be able to paint a scene depicting the Jungle Book that would be a permanent fixture within the new training suite.

"It is already creating a great deal of interest among our members who spend time trying to find as many characters as possible from the book and films."

The mural will be officially unveiled on Sunday, November 29, when the Charmouth Scout Group is holding an open afternoon. Everyone who has donated funds or offered their services in the design and construction of the new training suite will be invited to see the mural and enjoy a cup of tea and cakes.

Last month, scouts from Charmouth visited the spiritual home of the movement on Brownsea Island, where Robert Baden-Powell held his first experimental camp in 1907.

A dozen of the group’s Cub pack also visited the site of the first camp during the summer.

Other activities undertaken by the Scouts during their summer camp included archery, climbing and abseiling, at Butcher’s Coppice Scout Camp, and kayaking and sailing, at the Hengistbury Head Outdoor Centre.