Canada bound

We meet 72 hours before the great trek begins. Wearing his paramedic's uniform and sitting in the ambulance service headquarters off the A19 near York, Richard is calm personified. From the easy way he chats and jokes, no one would guess that he was due to start again in the Canadian mountains come Monday.

He should be tearing his hair out. After all, a normal house move is supposed to be the most stressful event in life after bereavement. And he is crossing continents with his wife Andrea, who is six months pregnant, their children Taelyr, five, and two-year-old Reef, plus two dogs and three cats.

Richard admits that the last few weeks have been "a rollercoaster ride", the worst moment being when a problem with his work permit appeared to have scuppered the whole adventure. But now he seems to have it all under control.

The electrical items were sold a while ago - they won't work in Canada; he has waved a tearful goodbye to his Honda Firebird motorbike; and he has hosted two leaving parties, once for family and then a boozier do with workmates.

So they are ready to fulfil a long-held dream. Ever since they were married, Andrea and Richard have talked about setting up home abroad, and they began looking in earnest a year ago. Canada became a target because "we really like the seasons, particularly winter and summer".

A month's holiday in Canada only heightened their enthusiasm.

In their eyes, the Canadian approach to life is so much more positive than the British way. As an example he cites his frustration with our Government, which under-funds the ambulance service, sets tough response targets, and ignores "what everybody is here to do, which is offer care".

"The UK in general, everything's run as cheaply as possible," he says. "Everything's out for profit."

Recent war mongering by Tony Blair only underscores his belief that he is right to move his family to a country with a higher standard of living, lower crime rates and less pollution.

That said, they never expected to be making the move so quickly. The pace was forced when the family was chosen to be one of eight featured in a series called Get A New Life which airs on BBC2 in the summer.

It was a friend who spotted the ad asking for emigrating families to take part in a TV series. They sent in a video, and got a call from a researcher the next day.

Made by Brighter Films (part of the Endemol group, responsible for Big Brother), Get A New Life features two professional relocators. Melissa Porter and Scott Huggins know all there is about upping sticks and starting again on a foreign shore.

Their involvement in Richard's move certainly has many advantages. The TV company is paying for the family's flights and the first month's accommodation. Melissa and Scott have sought out homes, schools and supermarkets and helped with the paperwork.

But the whole business has been more rushed, and they have the added pressure of fitting in a filming schedule.

Richard is comfortable around the cameras. He has been the ambulance man in episodes of both Heartbeat and Emmerdale, appearing in the critical show in which "Mr Sugden's wife was killed in a barn fire".

Today the documentary crew was filming the family setting off from Yorkshire for an overnight stay in London. They catch a plane from Heathrow at 3pm tomorrow.

Richard is looking forward to 11 hours of peace on the flight before they are greeted by another camera crew on landing in Calgary, at 5.20pm Canadian time.

The family then stay in a hotel before seeing their new home for the first time on Monday.

This will be something else. They are swapping a semi-rural three bedroom house with quarter of an acre of garden near Raskelf, Easingwold, for a five bedroom home in two acres of ground in Bragg Creek at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Twenty minutes away is the spectacular Banff National Park.

Their new view will be all white. Temperatures drop to about -20C and four feet of snow is on the ground. Five-year-old Taelyr is already excited about making a snowman every day.

Richard is eager to swap his normal commute, in traffic jams on the A19 often on drizzly grey mornings, for something very different.

"You can snowboard to the bottom of the hill, and get on the light railway into work," he said, tongue only half in cheek. "And get the chairlift on the way home."

Richard's work, too, will be new. He is swapping the inside of an ambulance for an office in a Calgary skyscraper.

He has joined a industrial paramedic service serving the oil and gas industries, and his specialist training has landed him the post of decontamination and major incident officer.

Richard, 34, began his working life as a qualified diver. When diving jobs became scarce he joined North Yorkshire Ambulance Service, rising to become operational supervisor.

Six years on accident and emergency ambulances mean he has seen some grisly sights.

"You don't get blas about it, but you do get used to it," he said. "You have to have a black sense of humour otherwise you would get too stressed."

As a father, he is most affected by incidents in which children have died. And he has attended murder scenes. "That sort of thing gets you. It's just a complete waste."

As a balance, saving someone's life is a wonderful reward, and the letters of thanks from patients create a real feel-good factor.

Although he will not miss much about Britain, he will miss his work mates - and his family.

Andrea has lost both her parents, and Richard has lost his mum. But recently, he got his other parent back.

"I have only just met my dad again after 34 years. He split up with my mum before I was born. I had been thinking about meeting him for a long time. Then I sent him a Christmas card, and we met up. It's like we've never been apart."

He also met the two step-sisters he didn't know he had, aged 13 and 11. "One told me she loved me the other day. I was a blubbering wreck."

There were more tears when Richard's sister wrote in a special comment book that she would be "losing her left arm" when he emigrated.

But, Richard says, family and friends have all booked their flight tickets to come and visit them later in the year. That's if they're still there.

As part of the TV show Get A Life, the presenters will revisit Richard, Andrea, Taelyr and Reef in a month's time and offer to bring them home if it is not working out.

Richard smiles. "We have made it clear right from the start, we have no intention of coming back."

Updated: 08:23 Saturday, March 15, 2003