A ten-year-old schoolgirl with brittle bone disease has set herself a swimming challenge to raise funds for the RNLI.

Dixie Tomlinson loves swimming, so she set herself a challenge to swim 1,000 lengths of the Flamingo pool at Axminster, a total of 25 kilometres.

From Monday (March 4) Dixie’s total was 932 lengths and she had raised £1,115, smashing her goal of £1,000.

On Sunday (March 3) crew from Lyme Regis RNLI, Dixie's chosen charity for this challenge, received a standing ovation when she met the volunteer crew at Lyme Regis lifeboat station.

Mum Mrs Rose Tomlinson said: “Dixie really loves swimming and it is part of her rehabilitation after breaking bones."

And Dixie, from Harcombe, near Uplyme, added: “I wanted to do this fundraiser to help save the lives of people who get bad injuries while out to sea. I am swimming, which I love, but I am also raising funds for a great cause on the 200th anniversary of the RNLI.”

Dixie’s swimming pool distance is estimated to be the equivalent of the distance from Lyme Regis to Sidmouth.