PUPILS from Lochgelly High School, participating in next year’s Polar Academy expedition to Arctic Greenland, are celebrating a significant donation from The Weir Charitable Trust.

The Polar Academy, a charity with the aim of inspiring and positively changing young peoples’ lives through exploration, has received a discretionary award of £60,000 from the Trust.

To date, the charity has been wholly dependent on private donations and the help of founding supporters, including Chris Tiso, CEO of Tiso Group, in order to raise the £170,000 annually required to operate.

Craig Mathieson, Scotland’s greatest living polar explorer and one of only 12 polar explorers in the world to have skied to both the south and north poles, established The Polar Academy in 2014.

He aims to transform the lives of young people crushed by a lack of self-confidence and self esteem and has already engaged with more than 50,000 pupils across Scotland.

The 48 year-old from Bo-Ness commented: “I’m personally overwhelmed by the hugely generous financial support offered by The Weir Charitable Trust. Its support will directly impact on our commitment to use exploration to transform the physical and mental wellbeing of young people who feel invisible at school and plagued by feelings of anxiety and self-doubt.

“Specifically, this donation will make a huge difference to our 2017/2018 expedition training programme that’s focused on helping some of the pupils at Lochgelly High School in Fife.”

The donation will be invested in the expedition team’s weekly training programme in Scotland and charity running costs, before the expedition team depart for 10-days in Arctic Greenland in April 2018.

The Polar Academy 2017/2018 Expedition Team from Lochgelly High School are:

Kieran Burns - 14, Morgan Adam - 14, Carla Masterton - 14, Megan Hargrave - 16, Lauren Scott - 14, Josh Farmer - 15, Conner Harper - 16, Daisy George - 14, Carrie Wetherspoon - 14, Hannah Reid - 15 and also Carol Ann Penrose – Lochgelly High's Head Teacher.

There has been a lot of fundraising going on involving the parents of the youngsters involved and they just recently received a donation from Cowdenbeath Rotary Club.

With the active support of their school and family, for each participant the journey to transform their life culminates in a challenging, self-guided 100km, 10-day expedition in Eastern Greenland. It’s relentless and tough but individual confidence soars as each young person successfully hauls his or her own 45kg sledge, camps and navigates through some of the world’s remotest terrain.

All will return home as ordinary pupils who have achieved the extraordinary.

Lorraine Tait, manager of The Weir Charitable Trust, explained why they decided to support The Polar Academy: “Since creating The Polar Academy, Craig Mathieson has demonstrated a passionate and relentless commitment to help positively transform the mental and physical wellbeing of young people in Scotland.

“Significantly, feedback from parents and participants involved with The Polar Academy highlights how its methods undoubtedly help a young person regain self-confidence and esteem. Previous participants clearly gain the physical and mental strength to lead positive and fulfilled lives and to serve as role models in their community.

“The Weir Charitable Trust hopes that this £60,000 award towards training and running costs will ensure that The Polar Academy can continue to build on its impressive work.”