OSWESTRY School's headteacher is to take on a marathon this weekend – dressed in a tutu.

Peter Middleton, Oswestry School Headteacher, announced on Instagram that he will run the Chester Marathon dressed in a tutu in order to raise £1,000 for Hope House Children's Hospice.

It comes after a video of him joining a Year 2 ballet dance class went viral, with more than 100,000 views, after which he was contacted by Strictly Shropshire to join in a fundraiser for the Morda hospice.

Mr Middleton said: "They contacted me and I was 'persuaded' to join Strictly – it's outside of my comfort zone but I thought Why not?.

"I am dreadful at dancing but I am decent at running so I wanted to try to raise some more money outside of the Shropshire show, but still carry on with the dancing theme and wear a tutu."

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The Strictly Shropshire charity event is organised by Dance HQ, and all the contestants are raising money for Hope House, with the aim of making about £10,000 collectively.

Mr Middleton added: "I have been given the 'salsa' as my dance style, and am required to learn a routine to the song 'Time of our Life' from Dirty Dancing.

"No pressure then!"

But the headteacher wanted to raise some funds individually, which is why he decided to don some unusual running attire when he takes on this weekend's marathon on Sunday, October 2, in which he hopes to complete in under three hours.

He added: "I've run lots of marathons before, over 25 in total, and have a Personal Best of two hours 38 mins, but have never run in fancy dress before.

"Running in a tutu will be a new experience."

The private school's chosen charity for the term is Hope House so there will be lots of other school-wide fundraising initiatives to help raise funds for this very worthwhile cause.

In the Instagram video, Peter explained his hashtag for the marathon #3tutu1, which stands for sub 3 (how long is going to take him to complete the marathon, tutu for the fancy dress, and the 1 for the £1000 he hopes to raise.

On his JustGiving page, he shares how terrified he is to take on the Strictly Shropshire 2022.

For anyone that wants to make any donations click here https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/petermiddletonsalsa