EXPLORER David Hempleman-Adams says the first aid training he received as a boy from St John Ambulance helped him save the life of a friend on Everest.

The record-breaking explorer was speaking on Monday at the ceremony to dedicate the charity's new £40,000 Crusader ambulance, which he paid for following a series of fundraising lectures about his polar exploits.

The vehicle will be based in Corsham, close to Mr Hempleman-Adams' home in the neighbouring town of Box, and he promised to continue raising money for St John over the next ten years, to help volunteers to replace its ageing fleet of 18 ambulances.

Mr Hempleman-Adams said he felt the charity was an extremely worthy cause. "They do so much for the community, for our own friends and family and I felt I wanted to give something back," he said.

Mr Hempleman-Adams first took an St John course when he was 14 and later specialised in Arctic and mountaineering first aid.

"If it wasn't for the training I received from them I would not have been able to save my friend Brian Price on Everest," he said. "St John indirectly saved his life."

The drama happened in September last year when Mr Hempleman-Adams was preparing to fly a hot air balloon single-handed over Mount Everest.

He and Mr Price had climbed 17,000 feet into the Himalayas to launch weather balloons for checks on flight conditions when Mr Price, 64, was taken seriously ill with altitude sickness and developed a lesion on his pulmonary artery.

Mr Hempleman-Adams helped save the retired businessman's life during a 20-hour dash to the Nepal border for medical help, actions that later won him a bronze award for bravery from the Royal Humane Society.

The explorer said St John is a motivated charity run by volunteers, but it still needed help from the public.

"Charity begins at home and if we help St John Ambulance we are helping our own community because it will be St John which comes to their aid," said Mr Hempleman-Adams. "I was born in Wiltshire and still live here and I feel I want to help my own area"

Mr Hempleman-Adams said he is planning to raise enough money for another Crusader next year and he hopes it will be used to serve the Chippenham area. "There are a lot of Saturday events in Chippenham and many could not happen without St John Ambulance," he said.

"It would be fantastic if I raised the money so that Chippenham had a Crusader too with specialist equipment."

Mr Hempleman-Adams is organising a sponsored walk to raise money and the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon has booked him for another lecture in January.

"There will be a special guest at the lecture in January who I think will draw a lot of people," he hinted. "He is an international actor who is a friend of mine."

St John Commander John Jago thanked Mr Hempleman-Adams for his amazing generosity.

"To have a generous act from someone of international fame has a very special feel about it and I will be thinking of him when he is on his next great adventure," said Mr Jago.

But even with the explorer's immense help St John still has 12 ambulances to be replaced with the new Crusaders.

"At present there is one in Swindon, Salisbury and Corsham, and two new ambulances will be presented to Salisbury shortly," said a spokesman for the charity. The Gazette's £40,000 appeal to buy a Crusader ambulance for St John has so far raised £4,854.

Daring solo flight beckons

Daredevil explorer David Hempleman-Adams is preparing for a record- breaking solo flight across the Atlantic, in a traditional wicker basket on a hot air balloon.

He will lift-off from Pittsburgh, USA later this month, and attempt to fly across the Atlantic to Bath, in the west country.

He will be flying in a Roziere balloon named the Chase de Vere Atlantic Challenger.

If successful he will break the solo world distance record for the AM-08 Roziere class.

Mr Hempleman-Adams is excited by the prospect of a new challenge.

"I wanted to recapture the golden age of balloonists and explorers by crossing the Atlantic in a traditional open wicker basket," he said.

"In many ways this will be even more challenging than my flight to the North Pole."

The first Roziere balloon attempt ended in tragedy in the 18th century. The inventor of the helium and air powered balloon, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier, attempted to cross the English Channel in 1785.

Both he and his passenger were killed when the balloon caught fire.

But though the challenge is dangerous Mr Hempleman-Adams has a vast amount of experience and will be guided by the control centre in Bath.

Chase de Vere Investments, which is based in Bath, is sponsoring the challenge and said it is proud to be playing a part in it.

Mr Hempleman-Adams acquired his interest in adventuring while working towards his Duke of Edinburgh awards in school.

He has climbed the highest mountains in all seven continents and was the first Briton to walk unsupported to the South Pole.

His challenges at the North Pole include trekking 600 miles from the Arctic Ocean to the pole and his Guinness Record in 2001 for being the first to fly a balloon from land to the North Pole.

Mr Hempleman-Adams was born in Swindon in 1956. Even though he has travelled across the globe he is very keen to help his local community.

"They wanted the press conference for my Atlantic balloon flight in Pittsburgh or London, but I insisted we have it locally," he said.

"It is being held in Bath so local press like the Gazette have the chance to cover it."