Irvine Herald reporter Lorraine Howard is preparing for the trip of a lifetime on a whistle-stop tour of Washington and North Virginia.

She will enjoy a packed programme - and get to work on 20 local newspapers.

Lorraine, (28), has won a place on a Rotary Group Study Exchange scheme travelling to the USA in April - and the experience will be completely new to her as she has never been abroad before.

The journalist was nominated for the month-long trip by Kilwinning Rotary in recognition of her work producing the quarterly free newspaper, the Kilwinning Community News.

The Rotary-funded trip will count as work - and Lorraine will continue to write her weekly column while she is away.

She said: "I've never been abroad or on an aeroplane before and have just applied for my passport.

"I'm looking forward to seeing a different country and will be working on local newspapers including, hopefully, the Washington Post."

She will represent the west of Scotland, joining Seagate Rotary club secretary Geraldine O'Donnell who is leading the trip, policeman Derek Frew, teacher Anita Hall, and Maria Robb, a decommissioning officer.

During the trip the team will speak to various Rotary clubs promoting their homeland, and they will each get an insight into how their professions differ overseas.

Lorraine has worked as a reporter on the Irvine Herald for the past six years and is now hoping to learn about how the newspaper industry works in the USA.

During the trip she will stay with 15 different rotarian host families.

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