The Archers fans hoping to make history in Antarctica
The is attempting to become the first all-female team to cross Antarctica. They will spend three months using only their own muscle power to pull their 80kg sledges through the harshest conditions.
In order to attempt to make history, the Ice Maidens have first had to make sacrifices.They have given up weekends to training, waved goodbye to Christmas with their families and they won’t experience central heating, home-cooked meals and hot baths until their return. But for half of the team the biggest sacrifice of all is not being able to listen to The Archers.
Captain Zanna Baker and the expedition’s two leaders, Major Natalie Taylor and Major Nicola Wetherill, explain how The Archers features in their lives and how they think they will cope without it while in Antarctica.
Q1 When did you start listening to The Archers?
NATALIE: I am a big Radio 4 listener and I used to switch stations if The Archers was on. But over the last 24 months, while preparing for ICE MAIDEN, I started listening to The Archers on a Sunday while driving home after a training weekend. Helen’s story caught my attention and I’ve been a regular listener since then.
NICOLA: I started listening as a child with my parents but then lost touch until “The Flood” in 2015 and on my commute home I got back into it.
ZANNA: I grew up – like a large number of children – recognising the theme tune, but always thought it was for grown-ups to listen to. Now it appears I must be a grown up! I became stuck into The Archers as a result of Helen's domestic abuse storyline, and then realised that when other people were talking about The Archers I could actually get involved in the conversation too!
Q2 Have you used The Archers in any of your training? (or post-training recovery?)
NATALIE: Yes I use the podcasts when relaxing post-training and when travelling to training weekends. While I was deployed in Afghanistan I saved up the podcast for my weekly tyre drag around the camp. The week’s episodes helped me complete the first 6 laps of camp and then I spent the next hour of tyre dragging thinking about what has happened in Ambridge. Also, due to the heat I got up at 05:00 so The Archers helped me get out of bed!
NICOLA: Yes!! It was the first thing I downloaded after getting in from our training in Norway – four-and-a-half hours of The Archers omnibuses! I listen to the omnibus when going for a long tyre drag. Natalie and I come up with how we think the plots will turn out when walking!
ZANNA: Absolutely! There was almost a small "Christmas feeling" when we returned from many weeks training in Norway and I knew there was a backlog of The Archers to listen to.
Other than discussing food and snow walls, The Archers is another topic that is regularly touched on. When we spent a weekend walking for a solid 10 hours along the South Downs Way, Nicola and I certainly spent at least an hour discussing possible outcomes and reflecting on how wrong we might have been with our previous predictions. The other members of the team who did not previously listen to The Archers are slowly having to give in, as otherwise they miss out on large chunks of our conversations!
The Ice Maiden Expedition
- Aim to be the first all-female team to cross Antarctica
- They are unsupported, they will carry everything they need for a month at a time
- Each person’s sledge will weigh 80kg
- They will cover 1,700km
- The temperatures can get as low as -40C
- The wind can reach 60mph
Q3 How will you cope not listening to The Archers while crossing Antarctica?
NATALIE: When we are in Antarctica we will have the ability to use and possibly send a blog back to the UK via our website. Keeping the weight of our pulks (sledges) down is vital so unless we can get hold of some advanced episodes or possibly really old archived Archers to put on our iPhone we will not be able to keep up to date. When we get back we will be able to relax and catch up on up to three months of life in Ambridge!
NICOLA: We considered not listening to it for the whole year and then we would have 78 hours of Ambridge life when we returned. But I gave in to temptation! Natalie and I talked about coming up with "alternative Antarctica-Archers plots" and see how different they are when we got back!
ZANNA: It will require some huge self-restraint by not listening to The Archers from here on in and then downloading the podcasts just prior to our departure. Unless there is a sneaky way of giving us episodes in advance? We promise not to tell anyone the plot – we're a pretty safe bet to be honest as we will only have the six of us to chat to!
Q4 Who from Ambridge would you recruit to the Ice Maiden team and why?
NATALIE: I think Pip has the stamina and drive most certainly. Being a farmer and outdoors all the time she would be fantastic although I think having Lilian along for a bit of the training would be fun. I can imagine Lilian would be able to entertain with some good stories.
NICOLA: Personally, Kirsty because she sounds like she could take on the challenge, Pip because she doesn't shy away from hard work and Tom because he sounds hot! Or Lilian because she's always up for a party, although I envisage her lying in the pulk with a cocktail in her hand whilst being dragged along by the rest of us.
ZANNA: Pip! She is one determined individual. She has had a bit of a tough time recently but she will learn loads about herself and realise that life has its bumps and we always come out stronger – something that I think all of us Ice Maidens believe in.
Q5 What do you think could happen in The Archers while you鈥檙e in Antarctica?
NATALIE: Well where to begin?
- I think now Anisha and Rex are together, Pip will realise she is in love with Rex. Toby won’t be able to cope with this and will either become a drunken mess or push all his energy in to his thriving gin business, or have a fling with Miranda, Justin’s ex to get a bit of cash to help with Scruff Gin!
- I think Johnny and Lily will become an item and Helen will get back in touch with Rob and he will come back to Ambridge.
- The farms will all be getting on with each other and it will be like IBR never happened.
- The Grundys will be in for hard times and will almost lose their home but with some hard work from the ladies they will get back on track, like they always do - they are a tough family (maybe they should come with us to Antarctica!).
- So much could happen in three months, but certainly Lilian will stand Justin up at the altar for what was tipped to be the wedding Ambridge would never forget!
NICOLA: Who knows? Here are my suggestions…
- The Grundys set up a “tough-mudder” style race that goes disastrously wrong, or is ridiculously successful?! But Oliver has something to say about it!
- Seeing as we will be skiing perhaps it can snow lots in Ambridge and they all have to get around on skis?
- The women set up their own cricket team and are more successful than the boys?
- The Archers invite a group of city kids to learn about farming and get them outdoors? (Although this rings a bell? Has it been done before?)
- Please, please, please can Henry get a donkey for his birthday? I always wanted one and was never allowed one!
Q6 If you could recuperate from the Ice Maiden expedition in Ambridge, where would you go and who would you visit?
NATALIE: I think I would start off with a good walk down to the Grundys’ farm to look at the special meadow, hopefully it will be OK after the pigs were down there. Then for cake at the Tearoom, maybe a quick pedicure at Grey Gables' spa or perhaps water aerobics with Jill.
I am a big cat lover so I would happily go and meet Hilda Ogden, although she sounds like a tough cat to win over! And I can have lunch with Peggy before heading to Bridge Farm to help out, although it will be February and a bit cold!
Then it would be time to head to The Bull for a few G&Ts and quality pub grub with the Ice Maidens and anyone from Ambridge; maybe there would be a quiz night on?!
NICOLA: My day in Ambridge post Antarctica:
06:00 Help Pip milk cows
09:00 Breakfast in the Tearoom and a tour of cheese-making with Helen
11:00 Horse riding to The Bull for a boozy pub lunch with Lilian and Elizabeth (and hopefully somehow get myself a mates rates spa deal at Grey Gables)
15:00 Find Richard Locke (he must be very busy in the surgery!) to discuss my proposal for joining the practice, so long as I can ride my donkey to and from work and do the house visits on said donkey
17:00 A spa session at Grey Gables with a sports massage followed by a dinner date with Tom
ZANNA: Start the day by dealing with the animals at Brookfield with Pip followed by an early morning dip in the Am and then breakfast at The Dower House with Lilian and Justin. Next a visit to Grey Gables for a serious pamper session.
I would walk around the farms visiting all the families with my little spaniel Ernest (named after Sir Ernest Shackleton no less!), pop in to the village shop for a catch-up on the gossip with Susan and to grab some nibbles, and then head to The Bull for a cosy evening in with everyone, perhaps sampling some of Toby's Scruff Gin.
