The Raleigh Bermuda family is deeply saddened by the death of one of our participants, Malcolm Outerbridge. Malcolm returned from expedition in Borneo in September 2011. Prior to his death, Malcolm, along with the 2011 group, had been actively involved in the post-expedition phase of their programme. The Community Presentation, held Oct 13, was a great success and Malcolm played no small part in that. During the presentation he was excited and passionate about his experience in Borneo, and expressed great pride in his accomplishments. He spoke animatedly about his plans for the future. The group had just started to plan their Community Project, a way to give back to Bermuda, the night before Malcolm's death.

Tributes have been pouring in from around the world, from those who spent 3 months in Borneo with Malcolm this summer. The comments demonstrate that he was an amazing part of expedition, and that he motivated everyone he met. While we are heartbroken by the news, we are also inspired by the transformation we saw in Malcolm, and in the hope he had for his life.

I don't think there was any member of (Expedition)11D that quite took on board what Raleigh was about and the opportunity that it presented in the same way Malcolm did. His time on expedition led to him having a completely different opinion of himself and his place/role in life. He was always thankful for any support that was given to him and often spoke highly of his family and friends. On many occasions he cited his families relentless faith in him as the main driving force for trying to change his life around. Malcolm always spoke in way that showed he really appreciated that his family and friends hadn't given up on him yet, even though he felt he deserved it. I hope his family are aware of how much he loved them and appreciated everything that they had and will still do for him.

Malcolm arrived in June not knowing anyone on expedition and was dropped straight into scenarios that were alien to him. Quickly he overcame any shyness and made friends with pretty much everyone on expedition. He was always 100% open about the reasons why he was out on expedition and left in September with a completely new outlook on life. It is terrible that he never got the chance to fully live the ambitions he had left Borneo with but the important thing is that Malcolm had taken on board what he had learnt and was starting to fully realise his potential. In short, his life was cut far to short for someone who had begun to realise they had the world on their doorstep.

I am completely gutted by the news. My thoughts are with Malcolm's family at this time and if they read this message and the others written on this tribute page I hope it reflects the extent to which Malcolm was loved by all, we only spent 10 weeks with him but left feeling that we had known him for a lifetime.

R.I.P Malcolm.

From Lee Cockin, One of Malcolm's Project Managers on Expedition