By Trish
SwainThe Old Church Work Party on the 8th March was well-attended and the building was gleaming for The Lee Old Church Trust AGM held on 16th March. Appropriately, on a wild and windy night we listened to Mr David Lee talk about the Scott and Shackleton Antarctic Huts.
The bravery and stoicism of these early explorers was brought home to us. It was almost impossible to gauge distance as the air is so clear that distant mountains appear close by. The huts resembled large garden sheds and the only insulation was the snow that banked up around them.
Nowadays it takes four days to cross from New Zealand in rough seas on a small ship, and crossing the pack ice is hazardous in itself. Scott and the other explorers had a longer journey to make from the UK and set off knowing they would be away from home for many months.
Mr Lee pointed out that the explorations took place in a narrow window of time from the 1880s to around 1915, when technology had advanced enough to make it possible, and before the effects of World War I had had such an impact in the UK.