Dean Attwell, Conquering the South Pole

Intrepid businessman and adventure fund raiser Dean Attwell, has now visited both poles in his efforts to raise money for good causes. Here he shares his latest trip to the bottom of the world.

After successfully completing a North Pole challenge in 2017, Dean Attwell, chief executive of Oakland International – has done it all over again to support a very worthwhile cause. Here he explains the challenges of his South Pole expedition and the importance of CSR efforts.

We’ve now pledged a longterm journey plan with Molly Olly's Wishes, with a target of over £100,000 contribution over the next three years.

“I’ve always believed it’s important to give something back and as a business we started doing just that as soon Dean arrives at Union Glacier as we could afford to. We launched the Oakland Foundation charity in 2013, which aims to eliminate child poverty, and are always looking for worthwhile charities which are based locally and support good causes nationally.

We discovered Molly Olly’s Wishes quite by accident. Some friends and I were having a drink in Stratford and when I left a tip the barman asked if he could put it in the gift box for Molly Olly's Wishes and claim Gift Aid from me.

I asked a colleague to meet with the charity and we were so impressed with what Rachel Ollerenshaw has achieved with her volunteers in helping children with life limiting conditions, we knew this had to be the charity we fundraised for. We’ve now pledged a longterm journey plan with Molly Olly's Wishes, with a target of over £100,000 contribution over the next three years.

The South Pole expedition raised £30,000, but it’s not a challenge I thought I’d take on after the North Pole challenge. I was, however, warned that most people who complete the North Pole do get the urge to do the South Pole too. Sure enough, after 12 months the urge did strike.

I trained for 12 months and between September and December had six sessions per week in the gym plus 45 kilometres per week on the treadmill. Some of my treadmill training was completed using a restriction mask which reduced the amount of oxygen while I was running so I could get my lungs used to the effects of low oxygen on the Antarctica plateau.

The journey to Antarctica involved a number of legs. The first one being from Heathrow to Santiago, then Santiago to Punta Arenas where we checked kit, met fellow teammates and had our safety briefings.

The next leg involved catching a cargo plane to Union Glacier in Antarctica. Once there we underwent final kit checks and waited for the all clear to board a Twin Otter propeller plane to the Antarctica plateau.

When the plane left we were by ourselves at 10,000 feet altitude in temperatures of around -45°C with wind chill and low oxygen levels.

This was probably the scariest part of the trip; dealing with extremely low temperatures and struggling to breathe normally.

The challenge was mentally very demanding as there were no landmarks anywhere by which to measure your progress. This, coupled with the fact it was a real struggle to breathe and the strenuous nature of the exercise, made this the toughest challenge I have undertaken so far.

From our time at Union Glacier to the time that we were lifted off Antarctica the journey took 15 days.

I covered all the costs for the expedition, so all money raised would go to Molly Olly’s Wishes, I received loads of support from my businesses and family. Team members were instrumental in spreading the message about the charity and massive thanks go to Jane

Thompson and Hayley Smith for their support in motivating clients, colleagues and supply partners into supporting fundraising efforts.”

● www.oakland-international.com