6th May 2009
Ex-Royal Star & Garter Employee Winds "Best Job in the World"
Ben Southall, formerly Event Organiser at The Royal Star & Garter Home for disabled ex-Service men and women in Richmond, has won the "Best Job in the World" at the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia.
The "Island Caretaker" job, which 34,000 people from all over the world applied for, involves living in a beautiful house next to the sea, swimming, snorkelling, meeting tourists and locals, and writing a daily blog to promote the Great Barrier Reef as a superb tourist destination to potential visitors from around the world. It's a hard life!!
Ben, 34, recently returned from an epic, year-long journey around Africa, codename AFRITREX, where he circumnavigated the continent in his Land Rover, undertaking 5 marathons and climbing 5 mountains along the way! Ben used the journey as a fundraising event for The Royal Star & Garter Homes for disabled ex-Service men and women and made a point of visiting some of the sites in Africa where VC's were won by British Service men, including the famous Rourke's Drift in South Africa. Ben raised a splendid £16,000 for the Charity which he recently presented to Chief Executive, Mike Barter.
Mike said, "Here at The Royal Star & Garter Home Richmond we were all rooting for Ben and are delighted that he has won. He is a great guy, very energetic and enthusiastic and a fantastic communicator with people from all walks of life - he will be perfect for the job. I hope that on his next trip to the UK he will be able to visit us again as our residents and staff always enjoy hearing all about his latest adventure.
Photo Caption: Ben presents his cheque to The Royal Star & Garter Charity’s Chief Executive, Mike Barter.