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Edited and compiled by Jack Wright.Published by The Captain Scott Society, c/o United Services Mess, Wharton Street, Cardiff. © September 2015
Contributions are welcomefrom members of the Societyand should be addressed to
Jack Wright ([email protected])
Chairman’s Message
www.captainscottsociety.com
The Spring Lunch got us off to a good start despite a last minute surprise change of speaker. Dr Ian Davies had to withdraw at the eleventh hour so our multi-talented Expeditions Secretary, Jack Wright, stood in to explain the convoluted system that we operate for adjudicating our two main awards. The ensuing Q & A session flagged up some interesting observations on further refinements that we can incorporate for the future so I’m quite glad that we had the opportunity of getting the views of our wider membership.
The Birthday Lunch was held in glorious sunshine but a day later than usual to coincide with the visit of SS Stavros Niarchos and as our very own Peter Coleman had kindly invited us on board to enjoy a few snifters before going over to La Marina for lunch. The usual service at the Scott Memorial was thwarted by building works around the structure so we were forced to hold the service on board Stavros. Eagerly awaiting the arrival of the venerable Matthew Salisbury to deliver the reading and prayer it became obvious after 45 minutes that some awful fate must have befallen him so his brother, Julian, stepped into the breach and did a wonderful job. And then Matthew arrived complaining about the poor boat service from the Penarth side, which explained everything -we’ve saved his speech and notes for next year. The lunch was very well attended with 32 of us around the table at La Marina and the service and food were as good as ever.
The Annual Dinner went very smoothly with Admiral Chris Parry giving a fascinating and lively account of his career and involvement in the Falklands War and we were very grateful to Chris and his wife for coming as they had only just flown in from overseas that afternoon. The Royal Hotel looked after us in the usual exemplary manner and
News
the food and service were again outstanding.
You’ll see from this newsletter that there are several more events planned before the end of the year so do put your name down for as a many as possible.
Best wishes
Julian [email protected]
President’s MotherReaches 100
A milestone birthday is a very special occasion. On 24 October 2015, Robert Swan's mother, Margaret Swan, will celebrate her 100th birthday!
We can celebrate 100 years of memories and historical impact as we wish Margaret a happy birthday.
Looking back 100 years at a glance is fascinating. Globally, we’ve made tremendous progress in environmental research, medical advancements and alternative energy solutions.
Did you know that 100 years ago, the Eiffel Tower was considered the tallest structure in the world, with a height of 324 meters?
In addition, there were only about 1 billion people on earth (today, we have more than 7 billion!).
Also around that same time period, The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was taking place, with Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott striving for the South Pole.
Robert Swan and his 2041 mission continue to build on this progress
and ensure Antarctica remains Earth’s last great wilderness.
captainscottsociety.comPresident: Professor Robert Swan
Captain Scott SocietyCaptain Sctain Sct ott Society
Autumn Newsletter 2015
P1
Membership Secretary Report
Gentleman, in my first report to you as membership secretary it is my happy task to thank my predecessor Wing Commander Mike O’Hagan not only for providing me with a first rate hand over of documentation and desk notes but also for his continuing support.
Our current membership stands at 176 with a small number of prospective membership applications in progress.
Should any of you know of someone who you feel would be suitable to join our Society and who would support our events please contact me and I will issue the required paperwork. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that all membership applications must be supported by a member of the committee and are then processed following election of candidates at one of our monthly meetings.
Yours in the Spirit of Adventure,
Paul GalloneExpeditionSecretary’s Report2015 Awards
Applications for this years adventure awards turned out to be a bumper bundle.
We received 42 submissions for the Sir Vivian Fuchs Youth award and 34 for the main Spirit of Adventure award.
Expedition destinations were spread throughout the world and from Pole to Pole.
There was a vast diversity of applications ranging from pure adventure to those incorporating a
scientific and research element and even a world record breaking attempt to swim 2000 miles across the Atlantic from Africa to Brazil.
This large submission was finally short listed to six in each category and the adjudication panel met on the 8th April to decide this years winners.
Sir Vivian Fuchs Youth Award went to:
William White, aged 19, who with his colleague Matthew Grinham has embarked on a cycling adventure entitled The Way of Genghis Khan.
Flying to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, they plan to cycle to Tehran through Russia, Kazakhstan into Kyrgyzstan and through parts of the Pamir Highway.
From Samarkand, their journey takes them through Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and into Iran.
The overall distance is 6800 kilometres and they intend to do it in 3 months.
William has a proven track record of completing these sort of adventurers, being the youngest person to cross Iceland at 16 and cycling to Jerusalem last year.
The Spirit of Adventure Award went to:
Oliver Forster for his expedition entitled The Karakoram Anomaly Project.
The Karakoram Anomaly is one of the great current mysteries of glaciology.
It describes the observation of growing and apparently healthy glaciers in direct contrast to shrinking glaciers almost everywhere else in the world.
A team of five will enter the Karakoram mountain range in Pakistan to climb mountains and carry out scientific research in the glacial region.
The reason for this research is the potential danger being built up by these glaciers and their ability to form glacial lake outburst floods.The potential for an outburst of flooding from glacial melt could have devastating effects to communities in the region (a tsunami washing out entire mountain villages).
Field work and findings will be shared with the communities at workshops prior to leaving and follow up papers will ensue with the authorities.
They will also attempt the first Alpine style ascent of a mountain called Yukshin Gardan Shar (7,530 metres)
The adjudication panel was impressed with the nature of this expedition as it best illustrated a combination of science with adventure.
Oliver Forster attended the Annual Farewell Dinner to receive the award.
Finally, I am very happy to report that if one goes into Google and enters:
"adventure awards and grants"
The Captain Scott Society now comes up as the eighth entry on page one.
Jack Wright
Interim Reportfrom our Spirit of Adventure Winners
The Karakoram Anomaly Project is designed to investigate exactly how the Karakoram anomaly is changing the probability of glacial lake outburst floods in the Shimshal, and Hunza valleys of the Karakoram.
We’ll be trekking and climbing for 60 days across some of the biggest glaciers on the planet, carrying much needed scientific equipment to quantify the risk of catastrophic flooding. We’ll then communicate the results of our work with the local people, to help develop sustainable solutions.
Our work will improve hazard mitigation and adaptation strategies in the region, and increase the local population’s resilience to glacial hazards and climate change, potentially saving thousands of lives.
The goal of the Karakoram Anomaly Project is to help inform and develop strategies to protect local communities from glacial lake outburst floods. After all, the purpose of understanding glacial lake outburst floods in the Karakoram is to protect the people most at risk.
The Karakoram Anomaly Project will carry out interactive workshops with the local communities to raise awareness and advance understanding in respect of the following aspects:
· The causes and effects of regional climate change;
· The risk and metrics of glacial lake outburst floods;
· And potential mitigation and adaptation strategies.
We’re not alone here. We’ve teamed up with the Karakoram Area Development Organisation and Pakistan Meteorological Department to develop viable solutions to protect communities in the Karakoram. We’re also following in the footsteps of the United Nations
Itinerary :
Depart Cardiff Central station 09:30
Arrive Bristol Temple Meads 10:19
Taxi to SS Great Britain for 11:00 tour
Lunch at Browns Restaurant Clifton 13:30
Early train returns to Cardiff from 16:25
Return Senior Rail Fares from £12.50 *
SS Great Britain ticket £13.00
2 Course Lunch at Brown's £11.95
* Those with Senior Railcards are advised
to book in advance.
This will be a pay as you go event.
Contact Julian Rosser (07776 295456)
Society Visit to SS Great Britain
Friday 18th September 2015
Development Programme, which has expressed the need for the better understanding of glacial lake outburst floods and the development of solutions in the area.
William White's Interim Report"The Way of Genghis Khan Adventure"
Mongolia is a huge country dominated by the great Gobi desert and vast steppes as far as the eye can see with a tiny population of 3 million. Hence, humans, food and water are all rarities. Our cycle across this country and the Gobi section of China equated to ten plus punctures, 35 days cycling, two hospital visits with severe vomiting, diarrhoea, heat stroke and loss of vision and Matthew Grinham’s legs officially dying.
Our crossing of Mongolia was portrayed by hardship, drunks and extreme acts of kindness.
"This is Mongolia" became a regular saying for anything that went wrong or was just bloody difficult.
My diary reflects Mongolia – “It is hard to believe how anything can survive here, everything is barren and dry. There are sandstorms, no water and we only see the odd Ger a day”.
A Mongolian Ger
Our lives became dominated by the daily struggle to find water. Our main sources came from waving any car that was passing and having our daily Ger visit. For the first time on an expedition we had to rely on muddy stagnant puddle water for our water. Purifying it involved straining it through a t-shirt, boiling it then adding a double dose of chlorine tablets so even though you were drinking swimming water you new it was as clean as it could be.
We had rain and sand storms, chafing, were called off by Mongolia search and rescue as the road was washed away at multiple stages and were flooded out of a storm shelter we were using for shelter being forced to contend with the
elements once again.
However, stories of hardship can be tedious, therefore I will save them for the likes of Bear Grylls.
The real story of our crossing Mongolia and the Gobi section of China is about kindness, hospitality and a bond between expedition partners.
Mongolia was marked by the extreme kindness of the nomadic people who without their help it is safe to say I would not be here writing this diary. Everyday we would head into any Ger we could find and on each visit were met with hot fermented tea, food and crucially a refuel of water.
People were always giving, Russians gave us food and beer commenting on how mad we were. The girls being genuinely worried for us much to Matthew's delight.
A German gave us food and advice, joking the only reason the nomads were so kind to us was because they thought we were crazy and did not want to upset us. A Chinese doctor gave us weird treatment that did far more harm than good but he meant well.
Therefore, in summary –
“It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul"
Oliver Forster, Matthew Farrell,Sergiu Jiduc & Tim Taylor
Printed by:
William White in his tent
room and members enjoyed an extended curry lunch before bidding farewell to the officers and engineers.
A visit to an Irish bar in the Barbican followed for top up and the day was rounded off with dinner in Avonmouth.
Our driver returned everyone to the Three Elms car park in Cardiff around 2100 hours by which time sufficient refreshment had been administered to one and all.
Captain ScottBirthday Celebrated
On Sunday 7th June a large party of members and guests attended a reception on board the tall ship Stavros S Niarchos to celebrate Captain Scott's birthday (albeit a day late).
Julian Salisbury gave the dedication deputising for the chaplain who was committed to his day job.
The party then took the water taxi to La Marina restaurant Penarth where good food and wine ensured the rest of the day passed pleasantly.
Annual FarewellDinnerThe Royal Hotel, Cardiff13th June 2015
Once again, members and guests assembled in the Terra Nova bar of the Royal Hotel to raise a glass and commemorate the part played by the
P3P2 www.captainscottsociety.comwww.captainscottsociety.com
Christmas Lunch
United Services MessWestminster Chambers, Wharton
Street, Cardiff
Friday 11th December,2015@ 12.30 for 13.30
Ticket £45-00incl. Antarctic Blue, Cava reception,
Four course Traditional Menuwith wines and port
Contact Mike Feeney
Membership Secretary Report
Gentleman, in my first report to you as membership secretary it is my happy task to thank my predecessor Wing Commander Mike O’Hagan not only for providing me with a first rate hand over of documentation and desk notes but also for his continuing support.
Our current membership stands at 176 with a small number of prospective membership applications in progress.
Should any of you know of someone who you feel would be suitable to join our Society and who would support our events please contact me and I will issue the required paperwork. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that all membership applications must be supported by a member of the committee and are then processed following election of candidates at one of our monthly meetings.
Yours in the Spirit of Adventure,
Paul GalloneExpeditionSecretary’s Report2015 Awards
Applications for this years adventure awards turned out to be a bumper bundle.
We received 42 submissions for the Sir Vivian Fuchs Youth award and 34 for the main Spirit of Adventure award.
Expedition destinations were spread throughout the world and from Pole to Pole.
There was a vast diversity of applications ranging from pure adventure to those incorporating a
scientific and research element and even a world record breaking attempt to swim 2000 miles across the Atlantic from Africa to Brazil.
This large submission was finally short listed to six in each category and the adjudication panel met on the 8th April to decide this years winners.
Sir Vivian Fuchs Youth Award went to:
William White, aged 19, who with his colleague Matthew Grinham has embarked on a cycling adventure entitled The Way of Genghis Khan.
Flying to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, they plan to cycle to Tehran through Russia, Kazakhstan into Kyrgyzstan and through parts of the Pamir Highway.
From Samarkand, their journey takes them through Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and into Iran.
The overall distance is 6800 kilometres and they intend to do it in 3 months.
William has a proven track record of completing these sort of adventurers, being the youngest person to cross Iceland at 16 and cycling to Jerusalem last year.
The Spirit of Adventure Award went to:
Oliver Forster for his expedition entitled The Karakoram Anomaly Project.
The Karakoram Anomaly is one of the great current mysteries of glaciology.
It describes the observation of growing and apparently healthy glaciers in direct contrast to shrinking glaciers almost everywhere else in the world.
A team of five will enter the Karakoram mountain range in Pakistan to climb mountains and carry out scientific research in the glacial region.
The reason for this research is the potential danger being built up by these glaciers and their ability to form glacial lake outburst floods.The potential for an outburst of flooding from glacial melt could have devastating effects to communities in the region (a tsunami washing out entire mountain villages).
Field work and findings will be shared with the communities at workshops prior to leaving and follow up papers will ensue with the authorities.
They will also attempt the first Alpine style ascent of a mountain called Yukshin Gardan Shar (7,530 metres)
The adjudication panel was impressed with the nature of this expedition as it best illustrated a combination of science with adventure.
Oliver Forster attended the Annual Farewell Dinner to receive the award.
Finally, I am very happy to report that if one goes into Google and enters:
"adventure awards and grants"
The Captain Scott Society now comes up as the eighth entry on page one.
Jack Wright
Spring Lunch atCardiff BayYacht ClubFriday 10th April 2015
Scots poet Robert Burns was probably not the first person to suggest "that best laid plans often go awry ".
Our chairman Julian Rosser received an eleventh hour call from Dr. Ian Davis our guest speaker to advise a family crisis would prevent him from attending the lunch.
As it was too late to abandon the
Reports of Past Events
event, our Expedition Secretary stepped into the breach and gave a short presentation on the society's award adjudication process.
Details of this years expeditions and the award winners were expanded upon following the announcement that William White is the Fuchs Youth award winner and Oliver Forster the Spirit of Adventure award winner for 2015.
Catering at the Cardiff Bay Yacht was once again excellent and the day made all the more pleasurable with sunshine streaming across Cardiff Bay.
Agm and Reception14th May 2015
This years AGM was once again chaired by Captain Sir Norman Lloyd -Edwards.
The chairman reported on a year of successful events and thanked members for their participation in events both at home and away.
The Treasurer reiterated the financial success of the events and the Society's accounts were healthy.
Membership is slightly down on past years and committee members will encourage new applicants.
The Expedition Secretary explained why the 2014 winner Sarah Begum had not been able to complete her expedition due to funding problems. The award had been returned to the society.
The adjudication committee will strive to ensure applicants making the short list have robust funding programmes prior to award nomination.
Following the proceedings attendees and guests enjoyed an excellent finger buffet with wine, which included birthday cake as the Expedition Secretary was celebrating making it to sixty nine.
Society visit HmsScott in Plymouth
Relationships with HMS Scott were further extended following a trip to Devonport to visit the recently refitted ocean survey vessel.
Thirteen members travelled to Plymouth on Friday 1st May and were welcomed aboard by Commander Karen Dalton-Fyfe who explained the ships role in the Royal Navy.
This was followed by a presentation by the executive officer ( on secondment from the U.S. Navy) and a tour of the bridge, officers quarters and engine room.
Drinks were served later in the ward
City of Cardiff in the funding the Antarctic expedition of 1910.
The excellent dinner that followed replicated the seven course meal originally served to Captain Scott, his officers and scientists.
Tables were enhanced with candelabra and thanks go to John Swingler and his staff.
Music was provided throughout the night by the highly accomplished Lovell Jones Trio with Marimbas being a break with tradition.
The Chairman was flanked at top table by our guests Admiral Chris Parry, his wife Jackie and Oliver Forster winner of this year's Spirit of Adventure award.
Expedition Secretary Jack Wright introduced and presented the cheque to Oliver Forster who gave a short talk on the objectives of his Karakoram Anomaly Project to Pakistan.
Our main speaker Admiral Chris Parry then took to the floor. He talked about his experiences in the Falklands war and the near fatal helicopter mission to land SAS commandoes on the mountain range of South Georgia and later rescue them.
This was compared to Shackleton’s epic undertaking in May 1916 when he, Tom Crean and Frank Worsley had to scale these uncharted mountains in their quest to reach Stromness Bay and save the "Endeavour" crew.
Admiral Parry proposed the toast to the Society and singing broke out as the band played sea shanties to round off a most convivial evening.
Jack Wright receives a "Thank You"from chairman Julian Rosser
Admiral Chris Parry, his wife Jackie,Julian Rosser and Oliver Forster
Mike Tarverlaunches his new book
at Penarth Yacht Club
on
Saturday, 10th October, 2015,between 12noon and 4.00pm,
with a short illustrated presentation at 2.15pm
The title is:
Surgeon Captain Edward Leicester Atkinson DSO AM MRCS LRCP RN - Antarctic
Explorer and War Hero
The Man Who Found Captain Scott
Service of Nine Lessonsand Carols
St Mary's Church, Whitchurch,Thursday, 10th December 2015
at 19.00
Please make every effort to attend
this festive event.
Free admission
followed by mince pies and mulled wine
Autumn Gala Event
Cardiff Bay Yacht Club,Ferry Road, CF11 0 JL
Friday 9th October 201519.00 for 19.30
Guest Speaker:Peter Davies
How We Won the War
In spite of the Germans having more planes, better radar and more
versatile aero engines, we still won.
How we did it is a fascinating, surprising and at times unbelievable
tale, told in a unique way.
Sparkling Wine reception will precede a three course dinner.
Wines are available from the bar
Ticket £35-00
Contact Mike Feeney
Peter Coleman arranged a drinksreception and a tour of the vessel.
