Education | ED03 | Summer 2016

Sponsored by
Tunbridge Wells
Guest Speaker – Vinehall
Preparatory School
Tom Avery
Tom Avery is one of the world’s most
exciting polar explorers and a former
pupil at Vinehall. He became the
youngest Briton to reach the South Pole
on foot and was also leader of the fastest
team in history to reach the North Pole.
Last summer, Tom led a team which
broke the record of the fastest coastto-coast
crossing of Greenland by an
incredible eight days. Previously the
record time had been just under 18 days.
Tom’s 2005 Ultimate North
team made headlines around the
world for recreating Robert Peary
and Matthew Henson’s disputed
discovery of the North Pole in 1909,
and in the process entering the Guinness
Book of Records for “The Fastest
Surface Journey to the North Pole”.
Tom’s passion for adventure began
when he read about the exploits of
Captain Scott whilst a seven-year-old
pupil at Vinehall. He learnt to climb
in the Welsh and Scottish mountains,
first on rock, before moving on to
snow and ice. Tom subsequently went
on to organise and lead expeditions to
some of the world’s biggest mountains,
including the Alps, Tanzania’s volcanoes,
the Andes, New Zealand’s Southern
Alps, the Atlas Mountains of Morocco
and the Himalayas, climbing an array
of peaks, including several unclimbed
summits up to 20,000 feet in height.
In April 2005 Tom and his fivestrong
team enthralled the exploration
world by recreating Peary and Henson’s
expedition to the North Pole, travelling
with teams of Eskimo dogs and replica
wooden sledges. Tom’s aim was to
quash the doubt as to the validity of
Peary’s 37-day journey to the Pole.
After an epic dash across the world’s
most unforgiving environment , Tom’s
exhausted team made it to the Pole
with five hours to spare. More than a
decade later, they remain the fastest
team in history to reach the North Pole.
Tom’s most recent challenge saw
him breaking another World Record,
for the fastest coast-to-coast crossing
of Greenland in May last year. Using
kites and pulling two sledges each,
Tom and his three teammates beat the
previous record by more than a week,
completing the crossing in just nine
days, 19 hours with barely any sleep.
Tom returns to Vinehall this summer
as the guest of honour on the final day
of the term, when he will present the
prizes at the annual Prizegiving Day, as
well as speak about his adventures. The
pupils are really excited, and talking
about how he has already inspired them
to take up similar challenges when they
are older. This fits with the ethos of
the school, which encourages intrepid
learning and calculated risk-taking from
the earliest years in the Nursery and Pre-
Prep, right up to when the pupils depart
for senior schools at the end of Year 8.
Vinehall School, Robertsbridge, East
Sussex, TN32 5JL. 01580 880413.
www.vinehallschool.com
Guest Speaker –
St Edmund’s School
Olly Clark
Olly Clark attended St Edmund’s
from 1996 until 2003, from Junior
School through to Sixth Form when
he was appointed School Captain.
During his school days, Olly
displayed a great strength of character
and worked hard, and went on to be a
high achiever. After St Edmund’s and
Loughborough University and via some
rally driving in Mongolia, Olly became
an Army officer, was commissioned into
the Royal Engineers and subsequently
completed the All Arms Commando
Course, serving in Operational tours in
Afghanistan with the Royal Marines.
Earlier this year, with his close
friend Dan Parsons, Olly participated
in Talisker Atlantic Challenge which
is dubbed the world’s toughest rowing
race. He rowed the 3000 miles across
the Atlantic Ocean from La Gomera
in the Canary Islands to Antigua in
the Caribbean in an open boat to raise
money for ABF, The Soldiers’ Charity
and Prostate Cancer UK. Olly and Dan
won the pairs race in 42 days, 17 hours
and 59 minutes – a remarkable feat.
Olly said, “Having never been in
a rowing boat before this adventure
was certainly a baptism of fire at times.
The challenge and Ocean rowing
in itself, without doubt, drew on so
many of the skills and qualities that I
learnt during my time at St Edmund’s
and then became a foundation for
my military training. Courage,
Determination, Unselfishness and
Cheerfulness in the face of adversity
were all tested on a daily basis.”
St Edmund’s School Canterbury,
St Thomas’ Hill, Canterbury,
Kent, CT2 8HU. 01227 475600.
www.stedmunds.org.uk
www.wealdentimes.co.uk
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