Twins Yolanda and Zarah King have been hard at work fundraising for Girl Guiding projects they are taking part in this summer.

The twins, of Selby Avenue, St Albans, are now 23 but have been involved with Girl Guiding since they were seven and have both been fully qualified leaders for the past five years.

They have been selected to take part in two different international projects this summer for which they have to raise a total of £3,000.

Zarah is off to Norway to lead a group of girls to the Norwegian Jamboree - many of whom have never been involved in an international guiding trip before.

And Yolanda is heading to Guyana for three weeks with five other adult girlguiding members to head up training sessions for the parallel association in that country, focusing specifically on young leader and commissioner training.

Yolanda praised what she had learned from girlguiding. She said: “The impact Girl Guiding has had throughout the UK has been significant and it has dramatically improved my life, giving me the chance to gain a qualification and take part in an international trip to Norway whilst Zarah has undertaken a narrow boat licence through guiding.”

The twins recently held a raffle to raise money towards their trips with prizes such as meals for two at Brasserie Blanc and Cote, tickets for Willows Farm, books from Waterstones and afternoon tea at Abigail’s Tearooms. They sold over 300 tickets for the raffle.

Anyone who would like to help Yolanda and Zarah with their fundraising should contact yolanda99@hotmail.co.uk