Colonel John Blashford-Snell CBE, one of the world’s most celebrated explorers who was responsible for helping to provide challenges for thousands of young people around the world, will be speaking at Ripon’s Holy Trinity Church on Friday 1 November in aid of the Friends of Markenfield.
He is well known for three important expeditions. He was the first to descend the Blue Nile, in 1968. In 1971-72 he assisted an expedition from Alaska to Cape Horn in crossing the notorious Darién Gap, an area of almost-impenetrable hills, jungle and swamp between Panama and Columbia. He also travelled the length of the Zaire (now Congo) River in 1974-75 on a major scientific expedition.
Col Blashford-Snell will be in conversation with former Army Major Roger Chapman MBE, who worked with him when he was setting up ‘Operation Drake’. Blashford-Snell was asked by the then Prince of Wales (now the King) to organise a project that would offer young people all the challenges of war in peacetime. Operation Drake took 450 young people aged 19 to 24 from more than 20 countries on a brigantine around the world in a tough two-year adventure, starting in 1978.
Operation Drake was followed by Operation Raleigh, again led by Col Blashford-Snell, for which Major Chapman served as Director of Operations. Operation Raleigh and the Raleigh International Trust have continued to offer adventure for thousands of young people.
In 1975 Col Blashford-Snell was the subject of television’s ‘This is Your Life’. In 2019 he was made a CBE. He has recently returned from an expedition in Mongolia, where he was helping prepare for an expedition for the Scientific Exploration Society next year.
Explorer Sir Ranulf Fiennes OBE, who has also spoken for the Friends of Markenfield, has written of Col Blashford-Snell, ‘Without doubt JBS, as many know him, is one of the world’s most eminent explorers who, by virtue of over a hundred expeditions, has inspired young people of many nations to carryout challenging and worthwhile projects. His organisation and leadership of the famous operations Drake and Raleigh, scientific challenges for young people under the patronage of the Prince of Wales, changed the lives of up to 40,000 men and women who are now enthusing others’.
The event, which starts at 7.30 pm, is being run to raise funds for The Friends of Markenfield, whose aim is to conserve, promote and protect the medieval Markenfield Hall, just south of Ripon. There will be the opportunity to buy a glass of wine in the interval, and signed copies of Col Blashford-Snell’s books will be on sale.
Tickets cost £25.00 and are available from The Little Ripon Bookshop, Westgate, Ripon, via the Markenfield Hall website markenfield.com or by calling 01765 692303.
