Scot part of team spending Christmas on Antarctica in mission to conserve historic base

A trust that protects historic heritage sites on Antarctica has announced it is sending a team on a 9,000-mile mission to the icy continent to safeguard a base from the impacts of climate change.

As part of the three-year project, the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) is safeguarding Base A, Port Lockroy, Britain’s first permanent scientific base on the continent.

It serves as a designated heritage site and is home to the world’s most southern office and museum, as well as a colony of more than 1,000 gentoo penguins.

The trust deploys a team each year to manage the flagship site, but said this year marks the start of a new chapter, as the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming places in the world, and Port Lockroy is subsequently deteriorating.

Now more than 80 years old, the site is also facing issues due to age, environmental factors, and its buildings are facing structural challenges and require repairs due to increased rainfall, water flow and snow loading.

The 2025-26 team will be based at Goudier Island for the next few months and will spend Christmas on the football-pitch-sized island.

As well as carrying out conservation works, they will be running the world’s most southern post office, museum and gift shop, and will monitor the penguin population.

The team will face the challenges of having no running water or flushing toilets, and will work in almost constant daylight and sub-zero conditions.

The team will have no home comforts except for a small box of goodies they can send with the cargo shipment, but they will also get the chance to glimpse sights such as the Antarctic midnight sun and the life cycle of their penguin neighbours.

The team consists of base leader Lisa Ford, shop manager Tiago Figueiredo, museum manager Amanda Barry, postmaster George Clarke, wildlife monitor Alette Kattenberg and conservation carpenters Jolyon Oliver and Jim Brearley-Ratcliffe.

The team will also be supported on the ground by UKAHT staff members Peter Watson and Rachel Wilkinson.

Base leader Ms Ford previously trained as a doctor and then spent much of her life travelling and working abroad.

She did further training in tropical and travel medicine and then worked as a medic for the British Antarctic Survey for 18 months for the final wintering season at Signy Island where she met her husband.

Ms Ford is now based in North Wales and specialised in travel medicine, combining her two loves. Lisa is returning to Port Lockroy for her third successive season – this time as base leader.

She said: “I can’t wait to be back in a place I love, amongst the magnificent scenery and wildlife.

“I love the simplicity of life there, living and sharing the island with the penguins and other wildlife.”

Conservation carpenter Mr Oliver said: “Having the opportunity to travel to Antarctica with UKAHT will bring together so many of the things I care about – conservation, craftsmanship and adventure.

“I’ve always been drawn to remote places, simple living and creative problem-solving.

“This role will allow me to use the skills passed down through generations of makers in my family to help preserve something truly unique.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to contribute to a place that is both remarkable and in need of care.”

Ms Barry, who lives in the Scottish Highlands, has family history rooted in Antarctica as her father had worked at Port Lockroy in 1948-1949.

She said: “To live and work at Port Lockroy is the culmination of a dream for me. A dream that started with the chance discovery of my father’s own Port Lockroy journals and papers from his time there in 1948.

“He vowed to return but never could, so I feel incredibly thrilled to be keeping that vow in his memory.”