Book Ricky as your speaker

In July 2018 Ricky founded Inspire Alpine® as a social enterprise to help close the attainment gap that exists between disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers. He grew up on a council estate near Glasgow and is passionate about ensuring that disadvantaged young people have high aspirations. He has given a number of free talks to schools in the most deprived areas, and in 2018 & 2019 he gave a series of 26 subsidised grant-funded talks to primary and secondary schools across Scotland.

Since climbing Everest in July 2018, he has spoken at over 140 schools across the UK to more than 22,000 young people to help raise their aspirations.

Ricky's keynote talk for secondary pupils is called “Follow Your Dreams”. It describes his journey from a council estate near Glasgow to the top of Everest and how he faced and overcame adversity and associated mental health challenges - being arrested twice, dropping out of University twice, and being made redundant during his accountancy training. He completed the Marathon des Sables - a 150-mile ultramarathon in the Sahara desert known as the ‘toughest footrace on earth’ - after being made redundant, which totally changed his mindset and gave him the confidence and focus to follow his own dreams. The key themes include perseverance, building resilience, goal-setting and overcoming adversity.

Wisbech Grammar Shirebrook Academy Merchiston Castle

My son who is in S5 said it was the best assembly they have ever had. He found it hugely inspirational and said it made him realise that if he doesn’t make it as a professional in rugby, there are so many other things he could do.

More testimonials