Alan Chambers MBE - Key Note Speaker

• Who was invited to speak by Sir Clive Woodward to the England Rugby Team in preparation for the Rugby World Cup 2003?

• Who was invited to motivate the England Cricket Team before the 2005 Ashes?

• Both teams wanted to concentrate on project focus, maintaining direction in adversity and the change that will have to be adapted to.

• The England Rugby Team won the World Cup, The England Cricket Team won the Ashes.

• The man that motivated them was Alan Chambers.

Alan Chambers was born in North Lincolnshire in 1968 and educated at Frederick Gough School Lincolnshire. He joined Royal Marine Commandos in 1985. After successfully completing the 30-week gruelling challenge, he continued to serve the Royal Marines for the next sixteen years.

With the Royal Marines, Alan was fortunate to live and work around the globe in the most extreme climates – including the arctic, desert, jungle and Remote Mountains. He was formally qualified as a diver, parachutist, paramedic and ski survival instructor.

Alan spent the winters between 1990 and 1994 in the mountains of North Norway teaching arctic survival. He has also spent time instructing in humanitarian conditions in Middle Eastern countries.

The spring of 2000 was the culmination of a multi-year planning, preparation and fund-raising effort.

Alan Chambers led the first successful British team to walk unsupported from Canada to the Geographical North Pole. After immense challenges – including the evacuation of two team members – and extreme frostbite and hunger, they managed to raise the Union Flag on top of the world at 23:16 hours 16th May 2000.

The walk on the ice lasted a gruelling seventy days. Even with meticulous planning and preparation, the unpredictable sharply reminded Alan and his team of their humanity. They suffered near starvation and a dwindling fuel supply to cover 500 miles against the worst polar weather in a hundred years. They had done what some said was impossible and it demanded an extraordinary high level of commitment, focus, leadership and teamwork. In addition to their own humble satisfaction with success, Alan was awarded the MBE in the Queens 2000 New Years Honours list for determination and strong leadership in such adverse conditions, and became a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society England.