We also have a great team based out in Borneo. Find out more about our Borneo team here.
UK Office Fieldskills Ltd Team
Dom Hall
After fighting through the extreme boredom of a mathematics
degree at the University of Nottingham Dom ran off to the jungles
of Central America on a gap year expedition.
From then on he fell in love with the jungle and expedition
life and has now clocked up twenty expeditions and over two years living in his hammock in Central America and
South East Asia. He has led expeditions for Trekforce Expeditions,
BSES, Wilderness Expertise and Biosphere Expeditions amongst others as well as working as a safety consultant with commercial companies in the Alps and Gabon.
He is a mountain leader and runs the UK side of Fieldskills, heading up the UK training program as well as continuing to
lead groups out to Borneo and elsewhere round the world. He is an RGS accredited trainer in off-site safety management and first aid trainer with ITC.
He finds it hard to think of witty biog endings.
Dom does regular talks for schools, universities or businesses - you can see more about this and about more general chat about what he is up to on his blog.
Catherine Wandzel
Catherine was born in Lancashire, trained as a secretary then retrained as an I.T. Trainer. Having spent many years travelling the country training people in the use of Information and Communication Technology, she recently moved to the South Lakes - a stunningly beautiful part of the country where, if you can see the hills it's going to rain, if you can't it's raining!
She spends her time in the Fieldskills office doing a variety of administrative and marketing tasks. When not in the office she enjoys getting out and about in the great outdoors which she's loving have on her doorstep!
Martin Akhurst
Martin has been active in fieldwork, expedition and safety training for more than 20 years. He has been a member of the Mountain Rescue service in the UK and was the technical safety officer for a management training company. He still leads international expeditions and travels to many remote areas of the globe for his work.
As well as being a keen outdoor person, Martin has also worked with the UN in Afghanistan and provides training to humanitarian aid workers operating in difficult and dangerous environments. He has degree in Environmental Psychology and another in Behavioural Sciences. He is also a fully qualified Arborist. Martin is a qualified mountaineer and first aid trainer, and is one of our lead trainers.
Izzy Jones
Izzy is an Environmental Biologist, ML holder, and self-taught marketing & PR-bod! She spent a Gap Year in Central America, has a First Class honours in Environmental Biology, and has done personal expeditions to Borneo (twice), Ecuador and Nepal. Having spent 6 months on an internship with Fieldskills she is now studying MRes Ecology, Evolution & Conservation at Imperial College but has stayed involved with Fieldskills. She continues to help with our marketing and try to blag her way onto exciting trips! Izzy enjoys nothing more than hurtling down snowy slopes on skis, wildcamping, and researching little-known species to aid their conservation.
UK Office Other training Staff
Debbie Laugharne
As well as being a long time mate and climbing partner of Fieldskills' Borneo Director Simon, Deb is a full member of the Association of Mountaineering Instructors and holds the Mountaineering Instructor Award. She began climbing in the Peaks in 1986 and has worked in the outdoor industry since 1989.
She has a huge variety of experience within the outdoor field, from personal rock climbing tuition to technical advice for Further Education Colleges and the Scout Association.
This experience extends all round the world and in 1993 Deb began high altitude mountaineering. Since then she's led numerous expeditions to Venuzuela, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Nepal and India.
She continues to lead worldwide mountaineering expeditions at high altitude for Jagged Globe and Adventureworks.
As well as the leadership and technical skills necessary to lead sucessful expeditions she has in depth experience of the issues related to high altitude medicine. She maintains a high level of interest in both Avanced Medical Training and Mountain Medicine. All this experience makes her a huge asset to the Fieldskills training team and she heads up many of our mountain based courses.
Helen Turton
Helen is a qualified teacher, who has worked in the outdoor industry for over 20 years, in outdoor centres, as an outdoor education advisor, and leading on expeditions around the world, from the Falkland Islands and South Georgia to Svalbard. She also brings a wealth of personal experience, having worked with groups with complex medical and physical needs and learning difficulties in a variety of environmental and expedition situations. She holds a Winter ML certifcate, and is also a First Aid trainer.
Sam McConnell
Sam is a reknowned desert explorer and expedition leader. He has led over 100 teams in deserts across Africa and has worked extensively in Namibia as well as working in Sinai and around the world. He is perhaps best known for his solo, unsupported walk across the Dune Sea of the Namib desert in 2002. He works with Fieldskills on our desert courses and longer desert expedition adventures.
Kevin Albin
Kevin Albin was having an exciting career as a police officer, when, being keen on the outdoors and on a two year secondment to the Prince's Trust working with 16-25 year olds, he switched jobs and retrained as a mountain and expedition leader. He then worked for a number of different companies as an instructor and facilitator. He has led expeditions to Belize, Borneo, Morocco, India, Tanzania, and Venezuela. He holds the Winter and International Mountain Leader Awards.
Kevin is a long time friend of Fieldskills and from his home in the France he and Karen both work on UK courses and are helping to develop Fieldskills courses in Europe.
Karen Albin
Karen Albin is a nurse, and she spent several years working intensive care in busy London hospitals. A trip to Oman with Operation Raleigh convinced her to work as an expedition medic and she went off to S.E.Asia for four years where she met and worked on many expeditions with Dom and Simon. She worked with Trekforce, and Operation Wallacea as a dive medic, as well as completing many personal trips. She now works as an expedition leader for several different companies, and has led expeditions to Borneo, Indonesia, India, Morocco and Nepal. She holds a diploma in Travel Medicine.
Nigel Hodgson
Nigel's passion with adventure started during his early childhood in Southern Africa, continued through his schooling in North Yorkshire and a 14 year career in the RAF.
During that period he has undertaken many expeditions around the UK & world and was a safari guide in East Africa for 7 years. Currently he works as a first aid trainer, leadership & teamwork instructor, tour guide and expedition leader. He works regular with fieldskills on our first aid and fieldwork safety courses and his passion for Africa makes him the ideal trainer to run our savannah safety courses.
Matt Leggett
Matt has been working in remote locations as an explorer and expedition leader for over 8 years, and has planned and led numerous extended expeditions to remote desert, jungle and mountainous regions.
Dom and Matt first met leading jungle expeditions for Trekforce and they most recently worked together in the Amazon on Ben Fogle's Extreme Dreams series with the BBC. Matt developed and led all four expeditions in the series - trekking from the Equator to the Tropic of Capricorn through the Andes.
Matt is now based in PNG with his wife Sam, so barely qualifies as part of the UK team anymore but still supports Fieldskills with advice and and consultancy and when he is back in the UK runs the occasional course for us when he is not dragging Dom up scary ice.
