Press Release, 18th September 2007

Following their victory in this year's Polar Race to the Magnetic North Pole, Team Refuge (Jake and James) will spend the next two months completing a round of talks around the country beginning in Bury St. Edmunds on Friday 21st September. Suffolk's Jake and Wiltshire's James will talk about the challenge of walking / skiing 400 miles to the North Pole in temperatures as low as minus fifty, including a graphic account of their very close encounter with a pair of hungry polar bears.

On Friday 21st September at 1400, Jake will give an illustrated talk to children at Moreton Hall Preparatory School in Bury St. Edmunds, where some of their equipment will be on display. The talk will be in aid of a new Trust Fund called Team Refuge, which Jake and James have established to cover the life-saving medical evacuation of refugee children.

On Saturday 6th October, Team Refuge will return to Moreton Hall Preparatory School to host a drink reception and fund-raising auction with an introduction by BBC Springwatch presenter, Kate Humble. Press are invited to attend both events.

Jake has worked with refugees for 8 years in such hot spots as West and East Timor, Darien Gap, Jordan, Darfur, the Tsunami operation in Sri Lanka, and most recently in Iraq. His work has received coverage in the national press, on radio and on television. James is a prep school teacher who has travelled the world extensively, often with Jake. Team Refuge will be managed by an independent and voluntary board of trustees including Jake and James. The Fund will help to fill a gap which Jake’s work has enabled him to identify, and will provide life-saving assistance to individual children. It is a project in which Jake and James hope to be involved for the rest of their lives.

Any members of the press interested in attending either event should contact Jake at jake@teamrefuge.org or Alison Bourne at lavenham@clara.co.uk. Jake can also be reached on 07841 286 776.