Award Winning Cameraman Visits Sedbergh Prep

On Monday, we were delighted to welcome BAFTA award winning cameraman Lindsay McCrae to Sedbergh Prep School for Antarctica Day.

Lindsay McCrae, who has worked on a number of BBC wildlife series, spent the day in school delivering insightful and inspiring assemblies to all of our year groups about his time away in Antarctica, as part of the film crew for the critically acclaimed BBC series Dynsasties, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

McCrae shared stories of the extreme conditions he and the rest of the film crew would face every day, including a demonstration of the amount of clothing they would have to wear to brace themselves for temperatures of well below freezing and wind speeds of over 70mph.
“I remember my first day at -30°C and I’ve never been more uncomfortable in my life” McCrae said.

McCrae and the team were tasked with filming for a year, to capture the mating season of Emperor Penguins and to document the conditions these penguins face whilst raising their young – something that had never been filmed to this extent before, due to the poor conditions in winter. Following emergency training in Austria, the team landed in Antarctica and once the last flight left, they were then left for the next eight months. No more flights were possible through the winter and the team were based in Neumayer Station – a German Arctic research station named after geophysicist Georg von Neumayer – for their trip.

“It did feel incredible when the last plane left and we were left all on our own, because all of a sudden, you’ve just been thrust in the most remote place on the planet.” Said Lindsay.

On behalf of the pupils and staff at Sedbergh Prep School, we would like to send our thanks to Lindsay for such a captivating and inspirational day and for sharing his experiences with us.