SHEBBEAR College’s Speech Day, attended by around 500 parents, grandparents and visitors, took place on Friday, July 1.

The guest speaker was Jo Bradshaw, who gave an inspiring speech about her career as an expedition leader.

She was the third British woman to reach the true summit of Manaslu, the world’s eighth highest mountain, in 2013. She was at Camp 1 on Mt Everest in April 2015 when the Nepal earthquake hit and she went back this year to successfully reach the summit on May 19.

Jo has led an active outdoor life for as long as she can remember swapping wind and horse power for pedal and foot power over the past 10 years.

Before her move to living an outdoor life, she spent many years from her early 20s in business management before the lure of fresh air and mountains pulled her away from the office to a very fulfilling life as a freelancer expedition leader and outdoor instructor. She went from challenge client to challenge leader and said she would not swap it for the world.

Now she spends her time leading groups all over the world on foot, two wheels or horseback.

Big mountains and altitude are her thing and she is quite a regular on Kilimanjaro or can be found somewhere up high in Nepal or South America for a good chunk of the year.

While not in the land of limited oxygen, Jo also teaches students expedition skills in the UK, has led a number of schools expeditions in remote areas as well as instructing and assessing the expedition element of the Duke of Edinburgh’s award.