07 May 2007

In April, Antony Metcalfe undertook the trip of a lifetime: 24 days trekking in the Svalbard group of islands in the high Arctic. 'I'd always been fascinated by polar explorers like Captain Scott and Ranulph Fiennes, and as an ex-Army officer I love pushing myself to the limit,' he says.

Antony's adventure was courtesy of Ice Warrior, an organisation that takes people from all walks of life and turns them into arctic explorers. Antony and his fellow explorers set about raising £4,000 each to find their part of the trip and set off in April 2007, dragging 80 lb pulks (sledges) containing everything they needed over sea ice, glaciers and land.

Part of the trip included carrying out basic scientific research on climate change and polar bears for the Norwegian Polar Institute. The team took UV readings and temperatures and collected simple data on the animals they saw.

Apart from meeting a BBC camera crew Antony's party of six saw no one else during the whole trip, and that pushed his team-building skills to the limit. 'There's no room for pettiness and you have to be honest with each other at all times. Equally, you must know when to ask for help or it could affect the safety and survival of the team. Even the best knot-tier's fingers will hurt too much to do a knot once in a while, so pride has to step back and let someone else do it.'

Antony works as a team leader of Skill Force in Bath. It's a charity that delivers alternative curriculum programmes to disadvantaged and challenging young people, and he joined in 2005 after spending 12 years in the Tank Regiment.

He took an Introductory Diploma in Management as part of his resettlement package. 'My tutors recommended I join ILM around then. I thought it was about time I stopped reading 'Soldier Monthly' and get into something a little more business-like. ILM has given me an understanding of management and leadership in a civilian capacity, and I hope to do more in the future.'

Testing his leadership skills in such a harsh environment has given Antony a real edge at work. 'My students definitely respect me more now I've been to the Arctic', he says. 'Not only is climate change a big worry for them, but they love the idea of me being face to face with a polar bear. Although a bear has nothing on how a group of 14-year-olds can be at times!'

Living in deprived inner city areas means many of Antony's students have hard lives. But he tells them that if they set their own goals and work towards them, they can achieve.

'Ultimately, I'd love to take 10 or 12 of them to experience the beauty of the Arctic,' he says. 'They'd go through the same selection and training process I did, and have to prove to me that they really wanted it. Working as a team because your life depends on it would really help them develop and make them realise anything's possible.'