JOURNEY

How and why did you decide to join the RAF at the beginning?

At the age of 15 in 1981, I approached the RAF careers office enquiring what qualifications were required to join, as I could foresee a career of adventure and visiting the world. My inspiration to join the RAF was my father, who had served with the Royal Navy.

What were some hard decisions you had to make and challenges you had to overcome along the way?

As a young troop, there were very few challenges as I had volunteered to join the RAF Mountain Rescue Service where I learnt my leadership and management skills. As I had already moved away from home, I kept regular contact with my mother via phone as by then back in 1984, my father had sadly died of Cancer.

Also Sir Ernest Shackleton, who without question achieved the greatest unsupported journey of all time back in 1914. I regularly compare what I am doing, thinking Sir Ernest and his crew went through so much more than I am, this greatly inspires me.

What are some things that many people don’t know about you?

Behind the scenes, I’m actually quite shy. When I’m out and about, I put on a huge show of shining confidence, but actually I’m always concerned about upsetting people.

What kind of legacy do you hope to leave behind? 

That with belief and determination anything is possible. Don’t let anyone get in your way, they are probably only jealous that they are unable to attempt it themselves.

What are some life lessons you will take to your grave? 

– Never judge a book by a cover, always find out the real story behind what is on the face of things.

– If something doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t.

– Do something about it, don’t walk away, maybe with a little work, you could fix it.

– Always make your bed in the morning, as when you’ve had the worst day ever, you’ll come home to a lovely cosy bed.

– You can never replace a first impression: clean your shoes, iron your clothes and always take a genuine interest.

– Don’t pay lip service, you are wasting your time and the person you’re talking to.

What are you most passionate about in life and why?  

Making sure my family is safe and healthy. I’m also a Liverpool FC fan, I have been since 1974 and through thick and thin, I’ve learnt that you can not win every game. You can learn so much from failure.

VIEWPOINTS

You penned three separate novels namely: Peaks to the Pole, Walk to Freedom and Everest Dreams, providing heartfelt personal accounts of your own real-life adventures to the extreme environments on our planet. Give us a general overview on the kind of impact those experiences had on your perspectives of life. 

My 3 books were written to bring together all the emotions of what happens when attempting an extreme expedition. From my perspective, it also brings all the memories together in one vehicle, an expedition like the South Pole, isn’t just about the execution about getting to the Pole. It’s about, how did we trained, how did we raise the money, what equipment we used, why did we make the decisions we made along the way.

But most importantly, penning the books selfishly gave me closure. With so many aspects, my mind would often start thinking: “if only…”, or “what if we did it another way…”. By writing a book, it actually justifies what I’ve achieved and most importantly – why.

You worked as a special educational needs co-ordinator for primary school children and constantly strive to inspire students with your own real-life adventures. Why do you think it’s important to educate and inspire the young? 

I fear the priority for most children out of school is based behind a screen playing computer games. By showing them my adventures and relating to them, using analogies to compare what I’ve done with what they could do, this inspires the children to believe in themselves.

The key is to connect with them as soon as you can within a presentation, once the children are on your side, the rest is easy. In the end, the children only need a little time and guidance to see how things could be so much better.

Serving in the RAF for over 31 years and being part of its all-weather emergency service team,  you have seen your fair share of epic rescues from both manmade and natural disasters. Do you have any thoughts on climate change and how this impacts rescue efforts of first-responders moving forward?  

I’m not qualified to discuss climate change, however, I remember back in the 1980s and early 1990s, our winter climbing seasons were longer and colder than they currently are.  This has made little impact on the rescues which the teams are involved in, however, mountaineering in general has become a lot more popular, hence the increase in rescue operations per year.