Date: Thursday 9th May
Time: Doors 6.30pm, Talk 7pm
Place: Oak Room
Age: All ages
Cost: £10, profit split between The British Heart Foundation and The Rockfield Centre

Booking essential

OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

Rowing in the Worlds roughest and coldest ocean across Drake Passage & Southern Ocean

(only 5 months after open heart surgery in honour of the true unsung hero of Shackleton’s expedition) 

Join us at The Rockfield Centre for an unforgettable evening of inspiration as we welcome Jamie Douglas-Hamilton, 15x Guiness World record holder and modern-day explorer, for a captivating talk about his remarkable journey of rowing the treacherous waters from South America to Antarctica across the infamous Drake Passage making their row, the first human powered crossing of the Drake Passage in history, first row across Southern Ocean and first row to Antarctica.

Jamie will also talk about overcoming adversity after being diagnosed with a leaking aortic valve, a genetic heart condition where he was told on diagnosis if he didn’t have immediate open heart surgery he would not live more than 6 months.

5 months after open heart surgery (the biggest surgical procedure to go through) Jamie had mentally and physically prepared step by step and was rowing from Antarctica to South Georgia this time for a cause close to his heart.

“To correct the biggest injustice in polar history, being the story of Harry ‘Chippy’ McNeish the true hero of the Endurance who saved all the crew of Shackleton’s doomed Imperial-Trans Antarctic expedition but was shunned and portrayed as a mutineer yet was the reason they all made it back alive to receive polar medals whilst Chippy lived destitute and frost bitten until he died forgotten in New Zealand”.

Over 100 years after the greatest survival story of all time. Jamie and team set out to highlight this injustice, dedicating this row to Harry ‘Chippy’ McNeish and calling their boat ‘Mrs Chippy’ after Harry’s cat

Learn more about Harry McNeish, overcoming adversity and the mental and physical preparations, training, near death experiences of rowing in the Southern Ocean to achieve the impossible.

Craig Glenday, Editor in Chief of Guinness World Records wrote after the Drake Passage;

‘This row represents one of the most significant human-powered expeditions ever undertaken’