Scouts are planning to celebrate two historic anniversaries in the new year.

All over Sussex youngsters are saving up to attend celebrations to mark the centenary of the scouting movement. And in Worthing, preparations have begun for the district's 40th anniversary gang show.

Gee It's A Wonderful Life, a feast of light entertainment, was staged for the first time in October 1967. Rehearsals for the 2007 gang show started in November, as the 75-strong cast prepare for six performances at the Pavilion Theatre from April 11-14.

Thousands of people are expected to attend the shows, described as song and dance spectaculars.

Gang show spokesman Stephen Peckham, who has helped compile a photographic archive from former shows, hopes past cast members will attend. Previous shows could not have been staged without producers such as the late Dennis Hudson, who died in 1993 after 27 years in charge.

Some of the youngsters who took part in past performances went on to become professional artists, with one appearing in Evita in the West End.

Today, there are 13 scout groups in the town: the 1st Worthing (green and blue), 2nd (green with dark blue trim), 3rd (black with dark red trim), 4th (orange), 6th (purple and yellow), 8th (red), 9th (green and brown), 10th (maroon with gold border), 1st Goring (maroon with light blue trim), 2nd Goring (light blue with maroon trim), 1st Durrington (blue with grey trim), 2nd Durrington (red with light green trim) and 1st Findon Valley (emerald green).

In total they provide activities for 952 youngsters. Some will attend the 21st World Scout Jamboree in Chelmsford from July 27 to August 8, when up to 40,000 youngsters will celebrate the centenary of the movement.

In 1907, Lord Robert Baden- Powell, hero of the 1899-1902 Boer War, staged an experimental camp on Brownsea Island, Poole, Dorset. He had made his name for defending the small South African township of Mafeking, where he had been impressed by how boys had used their initiative under pressure.

It gave him the idea for the camp which quickly grew into a global phenomenon.

Today it is estimated that there are about 28 million scouts worldwide.

The Worthing scouts first gained a foothold in 1912-13.

On the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914 local scouts were sent to guard Balcombe railway tunnel and assisted at the town's recruiting office.