Simon William Dedman was born in April 1963 in Bristol, he married his wife Julie in June 1987 and they have one son James William Dedman born in 1998.
Simon went to Somerset College of Agriculture where he studied for his National Certificate and then went on to Usk Agricultural College where he studied Advanced Pig Husbandry and then he went on to run a large pig unit on Salisbury Plain, after which, he went to the Falkland islands as a Shepherd based in Walker Creek and Goose Green in the post war period.
He returned to the Uk to join his wife in running their own company in Yorkshire which was started with a grant from the Princes Trust in 1984 and under their stewardship it grew to be the largest independent laboratory company in the UK. They continued to run and invest in a wide range of companies across the globe as diverse as food factories, snow machine distributors and the manufacture of ophthalmic surgical equipment.
Simon went on to serve as a local Magistrate in Dewsbury and Leeds for a period of ten years, sitting in both Family and Adult Courts.
Simon has always been passionate about travel With a particular passion for rallies: he has driven 4x4s across the Himalayas to Everest base camp, throughout India, Australia, Thailand , Malaysia , Vietnam and Cambodia. He was part of the first 4×4 crossing of the Bering Straits driving from Moscow to Uelen across Siberia, Kamchatka in temperatures at -50 deg c in a Land Rover 110.
Simon has funded several trips around Scotland for veterans suffering from PTSD and accompanied a 4×4 rally across the Sahara desert with physically wounded veterans and veterans suffering from PTSD. While on this expedition he saw how desperate veterans were to get back their sense of pride and achievement within a challenging team environment and he experienced first hand the benefits to these veterans of overland adventure therapy. As a direct result of this, he started VETRUN180 with two Ex-Marines in 2018.
The Dedman family funded the start-up of www.vetrun180.org and has provided the charity with funding for the first overland adventures , in addition to a warehouse with seven fully kitted out Land Rovers and all the necessary camping equipment from tents to cooking facilities for 24 veterans participants.