Five ‘everyday’ Britons are about to receive a major shock to the system – they’re being sent to one of the most remote and inhospitable places on the planet to live and work.
This week, the group are being sent 9,000 miles away by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) to staff Earth’s southernmost post office and museum on the football-pitch-sized Goudier Island. Their neighbours? Around 1,000 gentoo penguins.
The small cluster of buildings they’ll live and work in for five months is called ‘Base A, Port Lockroy’ – and carries renown as the birthplace of British Antarctic science.
They’ll have to deal with constant sunlight, sleeping in a shared bunkroom, a total lack of phone reception and limited internet access via satellite link.
There’s no running water or flushing toilet – and if they want a shower they’ll need to wait until they can board one of the semi-regular cruise ships that stops in port.
Temperatures, however, will be a relatively balmy -5C, as they’ll be stationed there during the Antarctic summer.
The adventurers are Lou Hoskin, Maggie Coll, George Clarke, Aoife McKenn and Dale Ellis, alongside returning team member Lisa Ford.
Dale Ellis, who works in media and the arts, will handle the island’s gift shop selling bottles of gin and postcards to cruise ship passengers.
Five ‘everyday’ Britons are being sent 9,000 miles away by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust to staff Earth’s southernmost post office and museum (to the right) on the football-pitch-sized Goudier Island
The five Britons heading to Goudier Island (left to right): Aoife McKenna (Museum Manager), George Clarke (Postmaster), Lou Hoskin (Base Leader), Dale Ellis (Shop Manager), Maggie Coll (Wildlife Monitor)
George, who works in set design, is to be postmaster, processing thousands of postcards sent by cruisers.
The living museum – a homage to earlier Antarctic Peninsula scientists – will come under the purview of Aoife. She notes: ‘I am most looking forward to seeing the penguins and their whole life cycle. I’m also excited to see the museum and share its stories.’
Wildlife monitor Maggie will count the nests, eggs and chicks of the penguins on the island. The former tourism worker, says: ‘Having penguins for neighbours is going to be absolutely incredible.’
The small cluster of buildings they’ll live and work in is called ‘Base A, Port Lockroy’ (above) – and carries renown as the birthplace of British Antarctic science
The living museum (above) pays homage to earlier Antarctic Peninsula scientists
There’s no running water or flushing toilet on the island (above, the boathouse) – and if the group wants a shower they’ll need to wait until they can board one of the semi-regular cruise ships that stops in port
Maggie says: ‘Having penguins for neighbours is going to be absolutely incredible’
The team may also encounter crabeater and leopard seals, isopods, sea urchins, anemones and snowy sheathbills.
RNLI crew member Lou Hoskin will act as base leader, ensuring fuel and food are never in short supply. Each day, she will send a Proof of Life at Port Lockroy (POLAPL) message to UKAHT Operations, clarifying that everyone is alive.
She says she’s looking forward to ‘digging our way into our home on arrival’ and ‘learning to speak “gentoo”‘.
Training for the five included remote first aid instruction, lessons on the delicate environment and talks from a ‘Penguinologist’.
Later in the season, the five will be joined by Conservation Carpenters, who will work to restore historic buildings. One will go on to meet specialists who aim to reach remote Blaiklock Island Refuge – UKAHT’s smallest and most inaccessible site and a time capsule of scientists who worked there in the 1950s.
Temperatures will be a relatively balmy -5C, as the five Brits will be stationed at Base A (above) during the Antarctic summer
RNLI crew member Lou Hoskin will act as base leader, ensuring fuel and food are never in short supply. Each day, she will send a Proof of Life at Port Lockroy (POLAPL) message to UKAHT Operations, clarifying that everyone is alive
