A CONSERVATIONIST from Tetbury will be celebrating Christmas with her family early this year as she prepares to set off to Antarctica over the festive period.

Joanna Hull, 37, will be leading a team of seven for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) project, which aims to save an historic site for future generations to learn from and enjoy.

More specifically, the project will safeguard a British scientific base, known as Base E, on Stonington Island off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Joanna will be heading south of the globe just four days before Christmas and is due to return to the UK in April next year.

She said she was feeling “a mixture of excitement and terror” about the trip, as it is her first time setting foot in Antarctica and working abroad.

She continued: “I’m terrified about sailing across the Drake Passage. It’s meant to be one of the roughest seas in the world.

“I’m also worried about not being able to wash very often because we’re camping. So we have to rely on the visiting crew ships’ hospitality. There will also be a lot of tinned food.

“But I’m very excited to get out there. I’m looking forward to seeing a completely different landscape. I’m looking forward to seeing penguins and hopefully some whales.

“I’ve worked for English Heritage for a number of years so to get to work on these buildings is a privilege and an exciting thing for my career and interest in heritage.”

Speaking about how she will be spending Christmas, she said: “I won’t be with my family. We’re celebrating at home early this weekend. It’s going to be very different but we’re going to make the best of it.”

“The guys I’ll be working with don’t know I’ve arranged some surprises, some games to make it more Christmassy for us. We’ve been joking about watching The Thing, a horror film set in Antarctica.”

The group of specialists will spend three months on the isolated island carrying out emergency repairs to the bases and undertaking a detailed conservation survey.

Base E was established in 1946 and was the centre for much of the early mapping of the Antarctic Peninsula, carried out by dog sled teams.

The island is home to two historic bases; British Base E and the US East Base, both of which have been designated as Historic Sites under the Antarctic Treaty.

You can follow the team’s progress of the trip by following #StoningtonDiairies on social media and via the UKAHT website at: www.ukaht.org/discover/conservation/stonington-diaries