Before retiring, I was a geography and outdoor education teacher in a mining village comprehensive on the Derbyshire Coalfield. The outdoor activities led to many school camping trips, at first to mountain areas of the UK and later school expeditions to Iceland and Arctic Norway, for fieldwork exploration, climbing and DofE in an adventurous setting. One of the main aims was to widen the academic and social range of the youngsters taking part, in the 1960s encouraging more girls to take part. In the 1970s this led to the formation of the Derbyshire Schools' Explorations Group. We were pioneers of expeditions for all and I was awarded a Fellowship in 1977 as leader of the DSEG Arctic Norway Expedition.

The experiences and principles gained from this led to my becoming involved in the Young Explorers' Trust as chairman and secretary over the next 35 years. The trust encourages and assists youth expeditions, and I am still involved now, albeit in a lesser way.

What I gained from the Fellowship was meeting many Fellows from many different fields and learning so much from them.