A LETTER has been sent to The Advertiser's sister paper, The Northern Echo, from a Redcar man currently working at Antarctica.

Allan Thomas, 31, left his job as a creamery freezerman in January to work at the British Antarctic Survey's Halley Research Station.

He will spend two and a half years in the icy wilderness but has already fulfilled his promise to keep in touch with readers.

Mr Thomas, who works maintaining the station's power supply, said he has had dig fuel drums out of the ice but has had time off to go camping in the snow fields to watch penguins at close quarters.

In his first missive Mr Thomas, who worked at Express Creamery in Northallerton, tells of his hard work.

He says: "I have been digging out fuel drums all day and have been out in -45 so far, that was not nice... not with my shaved head anyway! We've had some interesting news, if I choose to do my second year here, we will be having a guest. Richard Gere will be wintering and filming down here."

Mr Thomas later explains that as 24-hour darkness draws in he must wear a monitor to see how his body is coping. He is also subject to other tests to do with sleep patterns. He goes on to explain he has been on holiday. He said: "Well, I am back from my week off in a tent. A mere -25... lovely. It was very, very hard going, lots of walking with crampons on and climbing up stuff. I got some good pictures but as there are no landmarks the scale is a little hard to capture. We are hoping for some auroras tonight. The sun is just poking out at about 11 in the morning so it has been a while since I got up before sunrise!"

He explains that the 16-man, tight-knit team of staff and scientists have fun by organising themed parties.

Antarctica is 58 times the size of the UK but the Halley Research Centre is on the Brunt ice shelf. It was British researchers at the centre who discovered the hole in the ozone layer in 1985.