Dorset piper Irene Robinson starts seven continent challenge

A piper who aims to play the bagpipes on every continent within 50 days for charity has begun her challenge.

Irene Robinson's unusual feat started in New York and will take her across the world including Antarctica, Auckland and San Francisco.

Ms Robinson, from Poole, will finish her odyssey with a performance on HMS Belfast in London on 27 February.

She hopes to raise £50,000 for charity through her trip, which she has funded herself.

A piper from the age of the 13, Ms Robinson developed a love for the instrument after witnessing a band of girl pipers perform at Chessington Zoo.

"I would play in the bedroom, I wouldn't care what time it was," she said.

She launched her challenge on board HMS Victory in Portsmouth playing with the Royal Navy Pipe Band Association on 10 January.

The challenge will see her travel 50,000 miles and play in 12 iconic locations, and will include a 10-day boat trip to Antarctica where she will perform at a post office in Port Lockroy, situated on Goudier Island.

"Antarctica is going to test me," she said.

Her first performance was at New York's Radio City Music Hall, and her trip will take in other iconic locations including one of the world's busiest pedestrian crossings in Tokyo, and the Sky Tower in Auckland.

The forensic nurse practitioner, who is originally from south London, hopes to raise money for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity and Julia's House, a Dorset and Wiltshire charity that helps children with life-limiting illnesses.