Molly Glew has unveiled the latest in a long line of stunning works of art.

The 81-year-old, from Kirkbymoorside, has created her latest masterpiece out of hundreds of matchsticks.

Molly recently put the finishing touches to her newest model, which is a miniature version of a the Cathedral Church of St Mary, in Truro, Cornwall, which she painstakingly made with matchsticks and glue.

To date, she has created more than 30 models of churches and cathedrals, and she has already got her eye on creating a tiny version of Norwich Cathedral, which she visited when she was a youngster.

She first got the model-making bug shortly after the death of her first husband, Elliot, in 1980, and friends across Yorkshire are always happy to donate matchsticks to help her with her designs.

Molly said: "I travelled around the world and I've always been interested in art, which I used to teach to the locals in places I lived, such as Zambia and Sierra Leone, but I learned so much about their art and I think it is fantastic. I'm not overly religious, but I do like make making models of churches and cathedrals, and the work can be very therapeutic as well as rewarding."

Molly always visits the church or cathedral she is making a model of, and also takes her camera so she can work from pictures of the building.

She creates models of all sizes, but her biggest project was a copy of York Minster, which took her more than four years to finish.

She said: "I started making the models after watching a programme on television about a man who made a model of a church in Northumberland and I thought: 'I can do that', and so I did, and I've not stopped since."

Updated: 11:51 Wednesday, November 06, 2002