Tom Avery Visits Charlton School

One of the most exciting events in school this year was a visit by Tom Avery, the artic explorer who recreated the disputed 1909 Artic expedition by Robert Peary. It took 37 days, traveling in similar style with Canadian Inuit dogs and custom built wooden sledges.

Thanks to Barclays Capital, sponsors of his Artic expedition and also sponsors of Charlton School, the school are now the proud owners of one of the sledges (for one year). Tom was invited to visit the school to speak about his adventure and to show pictures of the sled in action.

How to celebrate such a distinguished guest involved lots of creative brainstorming and in the end, thanks especially to Debbie Mesnard, who organised most of the event; the occasion was a complete success.

Students and guests started off in the park where they were entertained by Steve and Elaine with their five huskies all the way from Bradford. Then Tom Avery and guests were led to the main hall via an artic look-alike corridor! The walls had been covered in white sheets creating a stark pristine background to polar bears, huskies and the odd penguin as Tom Avery was also the youngest explorer to trek to the South Pole. The floor was covered in bubble wrap to emulate the crackling of ice under foot. Tom stopped to admire and sign many of the painted images. He appeared very impressed with the scene.      

In the hall, he patiently answered numerous pertinent questions about his trek, backed up by Powerpoint images. He was wonderfully friendly and genuine in his interactions with the students.