Shropshire Star

Bridgnorth adventurer Ant looking to the Far East

Adventurer Ant Eddies-Davies is expanding his business to the Far East after winning a prestigious contract in China.

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Adventurer Ant Eddies-Davies from Bridgnorth

Ant, who runs Live the Adventure in Bridgnorth, has made his name running adventure travel trips in Nepal and Bhutan.

He is now being brought in by leisure operators in China to run rescue courses and adventure training at a host of centres around Shenzhen.

Mr Eddies-Davies said: "This is really exciting news for Live the Adventure. Our reputation for travel and training is spreading far and wide.

“We have worked in Nepal and Bhutan for 25 years developing their travel and tourism potential and China want to get a piece of the action because they simply don’t have an adventure travel industry at present.

“While most people talk about China exporting to the West, it’s nice to know that I’m going in the opposite direction.”

Live the Adventure, which includes the Old Vicarage Adventure Centre, offers one of the most diverse ranges of professional training programmes and courses in the UK, instructing everyone from the emergency services to international defence forces.

Mr Eddies-Davies mapped the river system of Bhutan for the Royal family and raised £75,000 to help rebuild schools and villages in Nepal following the devastating earthquakes.

The project in China will be carried out across a number of phases, from initial consultation and risk assessment to designing the training program and developing staff.

He said: "I’ll be going back out to China in November with a team of staff to run a five-week training programme.

“This isn’t just about setting up an adventure travel industry, it’s about training the staff to be able to help it grow.”

Business has been booming for the firm in 2017, which has also been asked to set up and run the RYA powerboat courses for Aberystwyth Marina.

Mr Eddies-Davies added: "It’s been a crazy 2017 in which we’ve been out to Nepal twice, Bhutan twice and now China twice.

“In the meantime our school day courses have been hugely popular and our training academy has had a 100 per cent pass rate.”