DISCOVERING the delights of stained glass put an end to the "hell" of anorexia for Blackburn artist Martha Henry, who endured the eating disorder for more than 10 years.

She is celebrating her recovery with the installation of her biggest-ever work - a stained glass window that spans all of the six floors of Preston Royal Hospital.

The official unveiling of the 48ft window marks the culmination of an 18-month contract as an arts and mental health worker with the local hospital trust.

"It has been a wonderful job for me," said Martha, who works from her home in Revidge Road.

"I had anorexia for 10 years and while I was not eating, I never smiled or laughed. Stained glass quite literally gave me back my life.

"To be able to combine my interest in mental health issues with my art was ideal and I am only sorry the contract has come to an end."

Martha first became anorexic in her final year at Oxford where she studied human sciences.

She had taken a gap year, working with children in the homelands of South Africa, and believes her experiences there triggered off her illness.

"It was so traumatic, seeing such abject poverty and starvation," she recalled.

"The apartheid system was very much in place with even different beaches for people of a different colour.

"I didn't realise it at the time, but when I returned to the pressures of Oxford, I reacted to what I had experienced by not eating."

Martha's salvation came when she enrolled on a stained glass course.

"I had never done art before and my psychiatrist was sceptical, but my mother was very much in favour," she said.

"In my second year at college, I was working on a competition piece and I just stopped bothering about food as an issue.

"Art is a much more effective therapy. You can have pills, treatment and you can talk for ever, but you have to discover something positive for yourself."

Martha's window on the main staircase at the hospital, which will be officially unveiled on August 3, features six panels.

Designed on a water theme, it has clouds and rain at the top and ends in a seascape at the bottom.