Meet the Team
Tony Ward – Director
Although mountaineering has played a large part in his life Tony has also travelled extensively and had a colourful and varied career. This includes 5 years in the Royal Navy where he saw active service in the Falklands conflict, working in New Zealand on a bungy platform and as a deck hand on an Australian prawn boat. As well as climbing in this country, Tony has climbed in India, Nepal, Morocco, New Zealand, Indonesia and the Alps. As an instructor/ expedition leader he has worked all over the UK and has successfully led expeditions to altitudes of over 6000m in the Himalayas.
Life changed dramatically for Tony in 1998 when he was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Failure. This meant he needed to spend 10 hours every day on a dialysis machine if he wanted to survive. This was devastating news both in terms of his career and life style.
Despite this debilitating illness and being told he would never climb again Tony did continue with his mountaineering exploits. During 7 years of dialysis he completed a number of remarkable achievements including carrying out the worlds highest dialysis exchange at 4000m on the slopes of Mont Blanc – the first of 3 world records he holds.
Thanks to his brother, Tony had a successful kidney transplant in 2005. Since starting No Limits, Tony has less time for the more committing expeditions but is still very active in the hills. He now gains a great deal of pleasure by providing opportunities for young people to experience the outdoor environment and the limitless possibilities it offers.
Tony is proud to be associated with the DofE Award scheme as the owner of an Approved Activity Provider. “Providing opportunities for young people to participate in DofE Expeditions has proved to be a means of giving something back to a scheme which has given me so much. Participating in the DofE gave me a sense of independence and exploration at a young age which has stayed with me ever since.”
Carmel Gray– Operations Manager
Carmel has always been enthusiastic about the outdoors and is therefore the perfect person to be with No Limits. She enjoys walking, climbing and regularly takes part in Adventure races.
Her varied career has proved invaluable. She brings with her a great insight into project co-ordination, education and the outdoor industry.
Carmel worked as a science teacher before moving on to various roles that ranged from project managing an exhibition centre in Manchester to a European conference company.
She moved into the outdoor industry in 2003. She was responsible for a team of Planning Managers that organised UK based outdoor expeditions and courses for schools all over the country.
Carmel is currently bringing up a young family, but still finds time to go tramping around the Peak District near her home.
No Limits is delighted to have Carmel working as Operations Manager. Her role involves, co-ordinating our team of instructors and working behind the scenes to ensure the success of our expeditions.
Simon Baker – Technical Advisor/Course Director
Simon grew up in North Wales and has been addicted to the great outdoors ever since. He has made a successful career from doing the things he loves for over 20 years.
After studying Chemical Oceanograpy at Bangor University, Simon went on to work as a trainee outdoor instructor at Brathay Hall in the Lake District. Where he became their chief instructor, responsible for the day to day running of staff and activities..
The need to challenge himself further led him to work for a mountaineering expedition company as their Operations Manager. Here he was responsible for organising expeditions to some of the world’s highest mountains. Whenever possible he took opportunities to lead many of these expeditions which took him to remote mountain regions including the Himalayas, Greenland, Arctic and Africa.
Simon is not shy of a personal challenge, especially if it involves skis, and has completed a 2000-mile north-south traverse of Scandinavia. Starting at North Cape in the Arctic circle, this unsupported journey took one hundred days to complete. His outstanding navigation, skiing and survival skills were the reasons for his success.
We are obviously very proud to have somebody like Simon in our team at No Limits. He is invaluable when it comes to ensuring the safety and quality of our programmes. He also works on a large number of courses as a Course Director and assists in the planning and organising of large events.
Karen Barlow – Planning Manager
I have spent much of my personal life in the countryside and enjoy now living and working in this environment. My career has always been based on Administration in one form or another, working for large corporations and then smaller companies as Office Manager, and also sometime training in the Insurance Industry.
Alongside this I have for many years run my own business in the Peak District running a café, which has now been converted into a Holiday Cottage. This involves all aspects of expertise, from setting up websites to book keeping and managing all areas of cleaning, advertising and taking care of guests for their very important holiday.
I became involved with the outdoor industry working with an alternative company recruiting Freelance Instructors in 2006, and am really pleased to be able to continue this with No Limits Development, and also bring my varying attributes and abilities into the role of Planning Manager, helping to ensure we offer the best possible service in all of our projects to all of our customers.
Matt Hutson – Course Director.jpg)
Matt's passion for the outdoors stems from his first experiences of the Duke of Edinburgh Award in the Peak District almost 20 years ago. Since then he has developed his own skills in the outdoors as well as working with many other individuals and organisations to help develop theirs.
Matt gained a postgraduate diploma in Outdoor Education from the University of Edinburgh and has worked full-time in the outdoors sector ever since. His commitment to youth development has earned him the status of 'Accredited Practitioner of the Institute for Outdoor Learning' (APIOL).
Duke of Edinburgh has remained a passion for Matt, and he is both an accredited assessor and an Operations Manager for the Award. He regularly provides advice and training to a number of organisations.
Matt’s reputation and experience have given him opportunities to lead expeditions throughout Africa, Asia, South America and the Arctic. He is a member of the British Association of International Mountain Leaders (BAIML), as well as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS).
No Limits actively seek out people like Matt to be part of the team. His genuine passion and enthusiasm for the outdoors based on personal experience can’t be underestimated. Matt is the companies DofE advisor and works on a large number of courses as a Course Director.
Pauline Sanderson – Project Manager
Live for today! This is a phrase to associate with Pauline. Her colourful and diverse career along with her highly contagious positive attitude is what No Limits needs to drive projects forward. She works as a Project Manager and marketing consultant in our team.
Pauline left the security of a well-paid barrister job and social life in London at the age of 30 to retrain as an outdoor instructor in Wales. This led her to Nepal for lots of adventures and a new career with Equator Expeditions, starting as a sales girl for their rafting business and becoming a director and developing the mountaineering and trekking business. After four years, love and marriage brought her back to The Lakes. Here she worked with a corporate team development company for five years before leaving to work as a youth development trainer.
Scotland was the next base where she worked as marketing manager at Glenmore Lodge, Scotland’s national outdoor training centre. Here she was able to develop and introduce schemes such as the Volunteers Programme to help volunteers gain qualifications for organisations like the Duke of Edinburgh, Scouts and Guides.
One of Pauline’s greatest achievements was, when as a member of the Everestmax expedition she became the first person in the world to complete the, ‘World’s Longest Climb’. A journey which involved cycling and climbing from the lowest point on Earth to the highest point.
Cycling over 8000km from the Dead Sea in Jordan, to the Base Camp of Mt Everest, she travelled through Syria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Tibet. At Base Camp, bikes were exchanged for climbing kit and several weeks later Pauline and her husband Phil, who joined the team at base camp, summited Everest becoming the first British couple to summit the world’s highest mountain.
Pauline has a passionate belief in the benefits the outdoors bring to young people. When Pauline is not enthusing about No Limits, she works as a motivational speaker and marketing consultant.
