Suffolk Norfolk Life Ray Thirkettle

West Norfolk electrician Ray Thirkettle, late of this parish, is really looking forward to the winter.

No, you’re not reading a back copy of SNL by mistake. Six months ago, when Ray was a career electrician at King’s Lynn’s QEH hospital, winter was de-icing the car on a frosty November morning in Heacham.

But since late November, he has been attached to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) on South Georgia, a remote island in the south Atlantic, a thousand miles of cold blue water east of the Falklands and about the same north from the icy northern tip of Antarctica. Fully supported by wife of 32 years, Pauline, he has seized this chance to fulfil his lifelong dream. Thirteen months at the cutting edge of science.

Equipped with a spirit of adventure, his OU Science degree and plenty of spare underpants (last time he went down under for BAS he forgot to pack any) his ‘summer’ is now over. The nearest it’s got to Heacham is an occasional boat trip ferrying scientists around a South Atlantic bay (weather permitting); a view of seals… glaciers and penguins (blizzards permitting) and the prospect of snow remaining high up over the mountains.

So why is he looking forward to a long sub-zero winter beginning in March?  Well, believe it or not, he wants some peace and quiet.

Summer in South Georgia is, like Heacham, its busiest time. This year, along with the native penguins, South Georgia pintails, and Pipits (the world’s most southerly songbird) Ray has seen flocks of visiting scientists; natural history film crews; builders renovating the old whaling station of Grytviken; two surprise visitors from Nordelph West Norfolk delivering his New Year copy of the EDP (with a front cover feature about himself in it) and what Ray calls ‘the helicoptering rat people’.

Rat people? Is Ray seeing things? Has something in the daily home-baked bread gone to his head?

No, rat people doesn’t mean some fabulous antipodean hybrid of man and rat. It means the South Georgia Rat Eradication Project which arrived in January in three clattering helicopters, bringing a truck and18 extra people, doubling the number of trucks on the island – to two – and almost doubling its population!

The world’s largest and most ambitious rat eradication attempt – which has since successfully cleared the entire island - headlined BBC news bulletins in January and remains a news item at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30922255

The presence of rats was monitored with traps - known locally as ‘Rat hotels’- and indicator stations containing a knob of peanut butter flavoured wax, which apparently, rats find irresistible.

Serviced by the ‘Shackleton’, 90 tons of a special bait were dropped from hoppers slung underneath their 3 helicopters, requiring 300 drums of fuel in an ecological restoration projected to take at least two months. Rats and mice were unwittingly introduced to the island by sealing and whaling ships as early as the 19^th century and have caused devastation to the native bird population.

The most telling indicator of success is a noticeable increase in some bird species. The South Georgia Pintail and South Georgia Pipit are now seen in numbers. Petrel and Prion species are expected to follow and the long term hope is that many Albatross species will return to South Georgia to breed.

So one way or another, Ray’s summer escape has been a rat race. He is now looking forward to sharing his winter desert island with just his eight fellow BAS employees and the four resident government officers.

The BAS is there to assess and manage our response to climate change. The retreat of the rugged and mountainous island’s glaciers, for instance, has implications for us all. BAS is also there to pioneer modern sustainable fishing. – the reverse of the island’s previous function as a whaling station ( Grytviken, pictured) pursuing practices Ray judges by modern standards as “revolting”. Whale bones still haunt the area.

The BAS base is self-sustaining, using a state of the art British Hydro-Turbine (pictured) to supply free electricity. Ray spent one inclement summer day, happily indoors, restoring this heart of the island’s community life, when it jammed up with stones washed in from the inlet. His technical expertise in servicing this turbine will be at a premium during the long dark days ahead.

It’s not all work. Jolly Christmas parties at the base were captured in outdoor pictures of glorious snow-capped summer mountains. Not a bad little escape from the Christmas madness. And, whatever the weather – even in summer the boats are often kept in harbour – the views are never less than spectacular. Then there are the informal regattas. An island boat club has been formed!

Ray’s previous stint– at Halley station on ice, Antarctica – attracted world-class chefs looking for an adventurous addition to their CV. The food is more prosaic on South Georgia, with each member of the team taking it in turns to cook.

What’s on the menu, I ask- Fish? Seal? King Penguin? Whale? Yeti? Rat?

Not these days. It’s more likely to be the seals eating Ray – either natural inquisitiveness (pictured) or, more recently seal pups needling the hands that weigh them.

But no-one goes to South Georgia for the cuisine. Today (and tomorrow and tomorrow)’s menu is cheese, pizzas, stews, hot pot and (Ray’s speciality) macaroni cheese, courtesy of cooking lessons from Pauline (an excellent cook) prior to his posting.

An ocean of powdered milk too. It takes four days to sail from the Falklands to King Edward Point. A boat too far for the milkman methinks.

The base canteen is running low on syrup and it’s an awfully long way to the shops! Tins of pears are still popular but the same cannot be said for the asparagus soup. There are rumours that gallons were fobbed off on all the summer visitors (who liked it- there’s no accounting for taste) but Ray “couldn’t possibly comment.”

Ah that frontier spirit! Shackleton would have been proud. He is buried on the island, facing the South Pole (see picture) as he requested. “Though there are conspiracy theories,” says Ray mysteriously.

Perhaps he is expecting something dark and ghostly to descend over the expats this winter. It would make a great down-under version of Agatha Christie’s ‘And Then There Were None’. Will they survive? Will they save the planet? I’ll keep you posted.

You can continue to follow Ray’s progress through the entire extended stay (15 months) until his return here

Welcome home Ray!

100+ view for this post

My Lynn News story about the return of Ray of the Antarctic

Earlier stories in EDP and Lynn News  

and earlier still

and in Suffolk Norfolk Life 

'A head in the lenticular clouds' of South Georgia (see Lynn news article)

Ray's Christmas Message From Down Under

What no snow? Well it is midsummer down under. Ray is second left.

 

That looks like a party worth joining. How far is it? 7000 what?

 

Ray's previous white midsummer Christmas at Halley Station, Antarctica

 

 

I asked Mrs Ray, back in wintry Heacham, whether she had a Christmas message of her own for Ray and the world. Here it is!

 

"Merry Christmas! No matter how far you run you can't hide from the sprouts!"

For more Rays of Hope-

 http://garethcalway.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/yes_25.html  and

http://garethcalway.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/heacham-electrician-has-south-georgia.html



What's Ray Been Up To In The South Atlantic?- December 2014

This is Grytviken, the old Whaling station just around the bay. This place was finally abandoned in 1964 and, despite its past trade which, when judged by today’s standards is nothing short of revolting, is an extremely fascinating place.

The settlement is currently being turned into a heritage centre and has a good museum, post office and a gift shop for the tourists, it is a popular stopping-off place for Antarctic cruise ships.
The site is littered with old bits of machinery that would have delighted the late Fred Dibner. This is real heavy engineering with forges and casting shops for repairing Whaling boats and all the associated equipment. Men would sign up for a year at a time, and, it is said, that after a year they could return home with enough money to put down a deposit for a house, small holding, or to start their own business. This was a ‘Gold-Rush’ town. Men, and a very few women (mainly managers’ wives) from countries such as Norway, Great Britain, Germany, Poland etc. worked here. I remember that my father commented recently that he had considered this line of work when Mum and Dad were trying to buy their first house.

Much of the processing equipment remains in situ; steam powered saws, winches, cookers and boilers for extracting the valuable oil. This, apparently, was used for Margarine manufacture amongst other things. I think I need to pause a moment and let my stomach settle! It was, I suppose, a carbon-neutral source of oil, but that does nothing to quell the nausea. How our tastes change!
For social history, this place is enthralling and is a place that has a link with many folk whose fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers worked here, and as such, it is probably worth preserving. As a means of income for South Georgia, it is a lucrative tourist attraction (this income is well spent on environmental conservation).
These are good arguments for the preservation of Grytviken. It may be well worth conserving but I cannot help balancing this, in my mind, with the trade that caused all these magnificent animals to be slaughtered in a horrid horrid horrid manner. The remains of explosive harpoon heads litter the old flensing yard, each one would have made a kill.
Skeletal remains of whales litter the area.

I can’t help questioning whether such a symbol of revulsion should be preserved? Others may find it different though. On a similar line of thought, there are strong and valid arguments for the conservation of World War atrocity sites, and, after all whaling still goes on.

If it was my choice, should the site be preserved? From the heart I say No….
I would bulldoze it all to the ground, remove it from the Island and from memory.


Yes. .It did put its slimy whiskers on the camera lens when it came up to say hello and bite me.

Ha, evidence!

The rugged mountainous terrain, and the fact that there are no roads, means that the best way to travel to different parts of the island is by boat. Everyone on base is expected to help crew these and most people end up being trained up to the level of Skipper. We have two Boating Officers who manage these operations and they provide ‘on the job’ training. This is on top of the pre-deployment training that we all received at Poole in the UK before we left. One of the Boating Officers crews a life boat when he is back home, so we are in safe hands. We have Two powerful jet boats that are also used for Fishery Patrol and two RIBs, one of these, named Alert, is seen in the photo. These are also very fast and capable of 30 Knots!

This particular trip was to ferry a Government Officer and a Botanist across the bay, where they are to carry out a survey on invasive plants. Some plants such as dandelions, were deliberately introduced during the days of the Whaling colonies, others however, such as Bitter Cress, have been recently and accidentally introduced. The seeds, have been brought in, attached to the clothing, rucksacks and boots of visitors to the island and have been dispersed at an alarming rate. There is great concern that they will out-compete the rare native flora.

Very Stringent bio-security measures have now been put in place. Every visitor, including all of us, have to use a foot dip every time we board and leave a ship. All clothing and baggage is thoroughly checked in a purpose built facility. All bags are emptied out and the contents checked for seeds and insects. All boots have to be scrubbed and all Velcro fasteners cleaned, they pick up all manner of seeds and plant material.

We have been trained to identify all these problem plants and if we find any, we have to mark the spot with a pink ribbon and inform the Government officers giving GPS coordinates. There are also areas that are ‘out of bounds’ to prevent us spreading the invasive weeds and further.

On a fine sunny day such as this, boating is a popular job but only too often, the weather and South Atlantic sea is not as benign. The scenery is always stunning though. A glacier can be seen in the photo, calving into the sea in the background.

Shackleton's Grave

Didn’t see the significance of this at first…..look at the orientation of Earnest Shack’s grave, all the rest are the traditional East West, He said he wanted to be buried facing the South Pole, and, at least, the alignment of the grave marker would suggest that his wishes were fulfilled…but…..there are conspiracy theories!! xx

Hello. A change from Seals I suppose. This is the Hydo-Turbine that, when it is working, provides our electricity for free! It had just jammed up, I think from stones washed in through the inlet, and I am testing it before putting it back online. Don’t mind working today as the weather is horrid, snow showers in summer! I suppose it is Antarctica after all!

Love to all,
Ray

For more Rays of Hope-

http://garethcalway.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/ray-of-hope-3-your-edp-sir.html

http://garethcalway.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/rays-christmas-message-from-down-under.html

http://garethcalway.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/heacham-electrician-has-south-georgia.html

Heacham Electrician Has South Georgia On His Mind (EDP Front Page Pic and Feature 23/11/14)

My Lynn News review of Ray's November 2014 lecture to the King's Lynn Society of Arts and Science on his previous A4 months on Halley Station, Antartica, is here

Link to this EDP cover pic and story here

 

“I’m just popping out for a career break. I may be some time…”

 

Kids gone, mortgage paid, pension looming, many of us dream of throwing up the day job and all our routine securities to do what we always dreamed of, while we still can. Some of us ‘of a certain age’ even do it.
 

Not many of us leap as far as the South Atlantic!

 

But that’s exactly what Heacham electrician Ray Thirkettle has just done. (Last Sunday) he joined the British Atlantic Survey (BAS) on remote South Georgia, the best part of a thousand miles east of the Falklands, for a 13 month stint as an electrical technician. On a pinprick island in a vast cold ocean, with long hours of darkness coming next ‘summer,’ Ray will certainly be needed.

 

 

This is in fact Ray’s second ‘leap in the dark’. In 2012, he was granted a 4 month career break by the NHS to join the BAS’s flagship Halley station on the Antarctic continent itself. This included a midsummer White Christmas. Clearly it wasn’t enough! And this time, it’s not so much a break as the end of an NHS career.

 

Does he have any regrets?

 

“Yes, I’ve just bought a sports car!” he jokes.

 

More seriously, he adds. “I had a secure position as NHS electrician at the QEH in Lynn, where I’ve been for 7 years. While there are definite rewards in joining BAS, money definitely isn’t one of them.

 

“But most of all, of course, I regret a 13 month parting from my wife of 32 years, Pauline.”

 

I ask the 7,697 mile question. And how does his wife feel about being a BAS widow on the other side of the world, starting with another solitary Christmas?

 

 

 

I’m not the first to ask. During Ray’s recent King’s Lynn Arts and Science SocietyLecture about his Antarctic expedition at which Pauline provided technical support – she answered herself with a pair of jazz hands and a big grin. The audience of 65 was suitably amused, if not entirely reassured.

 

Today, however, we get the real answer. “This is something Ray has always wanted to do. Of course I want to support him in fulfilling his lifelong dream.”

 

Ray’s sheepish smile of gratitude says it all.

 

He justifies further, “In this digital age, it’s not that we won’t hear from each other. During my Antarctic trip, we were in email contact every morning and evening and there was a telephone link every week – by satellite to Cambridge and then up the land line to Heacham. All of this will apply equally to South Georgia, where there may even be the luxury of Skype.
 

“In some ways we’ll see and hear more of each other when I’m on the other side of the world than when we’re living in the same house!”

 

 

I stare fascinated at Ray’s map of the bottom of our planet.

It’s easy to forget Antarctica is a continent. The South Pole is on a plateau but elsewhere there are huge snow-and-ice-buried mountain ranges. Halley station was on the frozen coast. South Georgia is a mountain range and a coast in a lot of deep water. It’s not got many similarities to Heacham. Did he learn anything last time to make the long trip south any easier?

 

“Yes, we’d got to South Africa before I realised I hadn’t packed any underpants!”

 

Ray moved to Sedgeford with his wife and young family as an employee of Eastern Electricity in 1986 and their youngest daughter grew up there. He got interested in science via the Sedgeford Archaelogical Research Project. (SHARP). “I had an Iron Age horse skeleton in the garage for six months.” I mention that this must have intrigued visitors even more than the sports car and he laughs.

 

Ray’s involvement with SHARP continues and his distinctive hat and regulation archaeological beard adorned Open Day last year. “I was going to be SHARP’s animal bones expert for the 2015 season. Obviously, since the BAS phone call at the end of September informed me I’ll be in South Georgia that’s all now on hold. But I’ll always be grateful to SHARP for the original inspiration and they are cool about my having a year away.”

 

Ray’s experience with SHARP led on to an OU Degree in Natural Sciences. The degree involved a lot of detail collected by BAS and the more he found out, the more he wanted to see a station for himself. Lamenting one day in the field to Melanie Van Twest, a young Australian member of SHARP, that he was too old to apply to join one of BAS’s projects, the youngster urged, “Go for it, Ray. They’d snap you up.” And they did. “My OU degree in Natural Sciences was crucial in getting me this job.”

 

Does he feel smug at escaping the Norfolk winter before it sets in?

 

“I’m more likely to see a White Christmas than you will in winter Norfolk – South Georgia is mountainous and snow is possible all year. But the main snow will come during May-October.”

 

Temperatures across the South Atlantic vary enormously. A quick glance at the BAS website (at the time of writing) reveals it is currently minus 11 degrees at the Halley station in Antarctica, +9.4 at King Edward Point on Georgia, where it is more than sheltered than the otherwise equivalent Bird Island (+3.1) - and a chilling minus 38 degrees at the South Pole.

 

The temperatures Ray can look forward to in his upside down year will typically range from minus 15 C to a sweltering high of 20 C. Luckily, he will be living in a sheltered valley on a long peninsula called King Edward Point. The high surrounding mountains will protect the small team from the worst excesses. He has been preparing for this and other eventualities with training courses since October.

 

“We had better weather in the Antarctic in Spring 2013 than Norfolk did. And I came back to a colder welcome – from the weather – than I’d left in the frozen South.”

 

“But by June 2015 it’ll be dark and chilly and may even plummet to 20 degrees below.”

 

Is he worried?

 

“No. I am equipped with 22 kg of state-of-the-art Antarctic kit to keep me safe and warm.

 

 

“BAS don’t own the station. It belongs to the South Georgia government. As you might expect, it uses cutting edge sustainable fuels – in 2008, a new  Hydro Electric Power station (designed and built in Kendal, Great Britain by Gilkes Ltd) was installed, using the mountainous terrain and a lake, and – reassuringly – there is a stand by generator.  I’ll be a snug as a Norfolk bug in a rug.”

 

His new penguin-populated Georgia base does have some reminders of home. King Edward Point includes a church; a whaling station converted to heritage and protection; Shackleton’s grave and a harbour for tourist cruise ships. It even has seals. A corner of the world forever England?

 

The scientific research, as you might expect from its location, is primarily fishing based. The BAS-contracted laboratory re-opened after a 20 year impasse caused by the Falklands conflict –Argentinian forces briefly occupied this island and still claim it - and is aimed at providing scientific advice to assist in the sustainable management of valuable and commercial fisheries around the island. What is Ray’s part in it all?

 

“Twofold: 1. to keep the base’s electrical equipment running and also to assist the scientists. The latter includes crewing the power boats as they conduct fishing surveys.

 

2. To generally help run the station, keep it tidy and clean, and take my turn to cook– making use of a recent crash course from Pauline. Unlike the Halley team’s happy arrangement where international chefs in search of adventure and a CV embellishment are typically employed, the Georgia team is too small to justify dedicated chefs. But I’ll do my best!”

 

Ray is keenly aware of the role of science in rescuing the planet. “The station is important to the world as it is collecting data about sustainable fishing and the viability of fish stock.

 

“And also how many whales have been pinched by unauthorised whalers!” adds Pauline.

 

There are penguin and seal colonies to monitor and reindeers to control. Rats were accidentally introduced to the island via whaling boats and the damage to bird species is clear by comparing the birds’ relative thriving on nearby Bird Island, which is rat-free. The station has overseen an enthusiastic rat-eradication programme, still not quite successful.

 

Ray hates talk of ‘decimating’ rats though –because it’s a sloppy and unscientific use of the word. “We need to get rid of them all, not just one in ten!”

 

It is this precision that helped get him the job. He was the only person on the Halley station trusted with polishing the glass frontage of the spiral staircase.

 

This scrupulousness also typifies Ray’s concern with the wider environment and the sustainable survival and prospering of the world to which BAS is so committed. Ray’s recent lecture for the KLSAS ended with his passionate advice to British youngsters. “Don’t follow popstars and footballers– the really exciting place to be in the modern world is Science.”

 

Looking at Ray’s example, there might be a few more ‘of a certain age’ who feel the same!  

Original EDP Feature by Gareth Calway here

The Cambridge-based British Antarctic Survey is one of the world's leading environmental research centres and is responsible for the UK's national scientific activities in Antarctica.  ‘Digging Sedgeford’ the full story of the SHARP project’s first 18 years is published by Poppyland Publishing www.poppyland.co.uk  Gareth’s Norfolk Notables features for the EDP are available online at www.garethcalway.co.uk His Christmas show with Dr Paul Richards ‘A Hanse Christ  Mess’ is in the Hamburg Suite at Hanse House in King’s Lynn on 6 December details www.garethcalway.co.uk  or www.marriottswarehouse.co.uk.

 

RAY OF HOPE: AN OCCASIONAL BLOG FROM UNDER THE BEYOND-

 

Ah! Gentoo Penguin with Chick and an egg!!

“Arrival Sunday 23 November

 

Just got here after a week's travelling! Phew.

I am not a great sailor and the ship was going from side to side a lot.

The Hydro plant we have here was designed and built in Kendal, Great Britain by Gilkes Ltd.

Skype, alas, does not work, it has taken me I hour to log on to emails! Still quite incredible that I can do this on a very remote island down here.

I will keep you in the news loop, may be able to send small photos if I pick my time. This is written at 22:30 on a Sunday when things are quiet.

Seals are very very smelly!

Cheers and love to all,

Ray.”

'Shackleton' Day 5 Dec

Me - Thinking of you on the day Shackleton set off from South Georgia 100 years ago. 'The Guardian' has a centrefold of Endurance in the ice today. The crew are playing football next to it!

Good job we’re all British or we’d faint!

Ray- One of my workplaces, the Hydro Power Plant, is no more than 100 yards from the gentleman's grave. There is a fence around the graveyard, to keep reindeer and seals off.
 

 

Kind Edward Point Factfile (adapted from BAS website http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/index.php)

 

Position: King Edward Point lies 860 miles east of the Falkland Islands, on South Georgia, a mountainous island near the bottom of the world, no nearer South America than Antarctica. Access is by boat or ship-based helicopter.
Purpose: Administration support; applied fisheries research.
Occupied: By the British Antarctic Survey.

Station Facilities

3 separate laboratories; a dedicated communications room; offices with excellent computing facilities; a walk-in freezer for specimen storage and a library

Administration & Status

South Georgia, part of British Overseas Territories, is administered by its own government, based in the Falkland Islands, and represented locally at King Edward Point by a Government Officer. BAS staff at King Edward Point provides logistic support assisting the Officer to carry out his duties plus the delivery of an agreed science plan.

Scientific Research

BAS scientists provide sound scientific advice to assist in the sustainable management of the valuable commercial fisheries around the island.

Climate

Surrounded by cold waters originating in Antarctica, South Georgia has a harsher climate than expected from its latitude. Permanent ice covers over half the island, large glaciers flow from the highest peaks in sharp contrast to the green coastal belt.  Mountain-sheltered, King Edward Point receives drier and calmer weather. Temperature range −15°C to +20°C with well-defined summer and winter, though snow can fall on any day of the year. The island is typically snow-covered from May to October.

Landscape

Mountainous and glaciated.

Coastal fringe is snow-free in summer with lush vegetation.

The island was once the home of the whaling industry. Tens of thousands of whales were brought ashore to be rendered down for oil. Many of the beaches are littered with whalebones. The whaling station at Grytviken, across the bay from King Edward Point, is now a heritage site and includes a museum.

Wildlife

Abundant seabirds including penguins. In summer the station beach becomes a breeding ground for Elephant seals.

Station Personnel

King Edward Point station has 22 people living on station in summer and 12 people throughout the winter. BAS staff comprise 2 fisheries scientists; 2 boating officers; 2 technicians (electrical and mechanical); a doctor and a Base Commander.

Life on Station

Everyone is on a rota to clean, cook evening meals and make bread. Comprehensive training in navigation and Search and Rescue techniques is provided initially in the UK and continued upon arrival.