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Nurse to play bagpipes around the world for charity

Forensic nurse practitioner Irene Robinson will raise money in seven continents 

A nurse is taking on a 50,000-mile, 50-day bagpiping challenge to raise £50,000 for charity.

Irene Robinson

Forensic nurse practitioner Irene Robinson from Poole in Dorset will play her bagpipes at iconic locations in seven continents, including Alcatraz prison in San Francisco in the United States; Port Lockroy in Antarctica; the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand; and the Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Johannesburg, South Africa.

She will be raising money for Julia’s House, the Dorset and Wiltshire children’s hospice charity, as well as the Royal Navy and Royal Marines charity.

Ms Robinson works in Bournemouth for Castle Rock Group, nursing people detained by police and managing their welfare while they are in custody.

She previously worked as a school nursing sister for 10 years.

Ms Robinson began the challenge on January 10 by playing at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard with the Royal Navy Pipe Band Association, and will finish at London’s HMS Belfast on February 27.

Her parents are Irish and she started playing the bagpipes when aged 13.

She said: ‘I will be travelling 50,000 miles in 50 days across seven continents, so a pound a mile seems reasonable with my glass half-full mentality.’

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