Irene was born in Stoke-on-Trent and qualified in General, Psychiatric and ENT Nursing during which she worked in various locations including Saudi Arabia. After a varied career of 18 years, she then decided to make a career change to become an archivist.
While returning to full education to take a BA in History at Exeter University she volunteered at Tiverton Museum and Somerset Record Office. She completed an MA in Archives and Records Management at UCL in 2001.
Since then, she has worked as an archivist at Somerset Record Office, Bristol Record Office, and Devon Heritage Centre in various roles.
While working at the Devon Heritage Centre she worked closely with the Museum of Policing in Devon and Cornwall, becoming a Trustee, as well as supervising the archivist and assisting the volunteers working on the collections.
She recently retired as Collections Development Manager at the Devon Heritage Centre.
She maintains a keen interest in history, especially local, family and naval history and is a trustee of the Devon and Cornwall Record Society as well as being a member of the Devon Family History Society.
Other interests include various needlecrafts, reading, gardening and travel.
Celebrating the history of policing
in Devon and Cornwall
