Pump company rallies to sponsor cold journey

Pump-maker Hayward Tyler, in Kimpton Road, Luton, is one of the sponsors of “The Coldest Journey” expedition led by Sir Ranulph Fiennes to cross Antarctica in the south polar winter.

Ewan Lloyd Baker, Hayward Tyler’s chief executive, said: “As an organisation that develops mission critical equipment to work in the world’s most extreme environments, we salute the latest endeavour of Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the funds it will raise and the scientific data it will gather. We wish the expedition a safe and successful return.”

Sir Ranulph aims to raise more than £6million for Seeing Is Believing, a charitable initiative to tackle avoidable blindness around the world. The expedition will also provide scientific data and form the basis of invaluable education programme.

The six person team is expected to arrive at the Ross Ice Shelf later this month. They will then cross the continent by land, meeting the support ship on the other side before the spring equinox in September.

Hayward Tyler serves the power generation, oil and gas, nuclear and renewable energy industries across the globe. The company was founded in 1815, some five years before the first sighting of Trinity Peninsula (now named the Antarctic Peninsula) by Edward Bransfield and William Smith.

The Coldest Journey expedition was due to leave Cape Town, South Africa, aboard the SA Agulhas, on Monday (January 7). The 2,000-mile six-month journey across Antarctica is due to begin on March 21. It will be done mostly in complete darkness and in in temperatures potentially nearing minus 90°C.

The team will conduct a number of scientific experiments. For details about the expedition visit 
www.thecoldestjourney.org