Outdoors fan Andrew Lamb has worked as an ACE Adventures guide for many years and completed a leisure management apprenticeship. He has been on the river since he was 6 years old. Andrew briefly went off to do a plumbing course in Aberdeen, but he is now back at ACE pursuing what he likes best – white water rafting!
The Fun stuff
Andrew has been rafting since he was six years old, taking trips on the river with his brother, as well as going camping and kayaking. Recently, he took a holiday to Australia to do some white water rafting in Cairns. “There’s a bigger volume of water over there so it was a completely different experience with different scenery, it was really fun” he says.
Andrew would love to go rafting on the Zambezi River in the future: “it’s going to be dammed pretty soon, so I’m hoping to get a few of the guys together and maybe do a trip next year,” he says. “The Zambezi is a pretty big river with some great grade four and five rapids. I also want to do the Grand Canyon and the Franklin in Tasmania.”
The Passion
“I’ve wanted to be a raft guide since I was at school,” says Andrew, who grew up in Aberdeen. “that’s always been my ambition.” While working as a full-time guide at ACE, Andrew has completed a year-long apprenticeship in leisure management and is just about to embark on a plumbing course in Aberdeen this September.
“The apprenticeship is going to help me with my rafting guide stuff in the future, but it’s good to have the plumbing as a back-up,” he explains. “I’m still going to keep doing the rafting in the holidays and weekends as a freelancer though as I’m sure I’ll miss it when I move back to Aberdeen.”
Why Ace trusts Andrew
This is Andrew’s second year at ACE and he runs all the activities, from rafting and tubing to canyoning and paintballing. “The best part of my job is getting to be with different clients every day, learning new things, and being out on the river with good people,” says Andrew.
As well as completing his plumbing course, Andrew plans to get more first aid and rafting training. He says: “My plan is to get my grade four and five trip leader qualifications and maybe do a more advanced outdoor adventure first aid course.”
Thoughtful about
“The biggest challenge of my job is having my Mum as my boss!” jokes Andrew, who’s Mum Tracey is the General Manager at ACE. On a more serious note, he says: “I’ve learnt to take more time with clients that are nervous and you have to adapt to different situations. I’ve had people who are scared about the cliff jumps and others who can’t swim, but you can still encourage them to try lots of things and enjoy themselves.”