THE extraordinary power of ordinary people's resilience in the face of the devastation of September 11 has inspired a new work by a York artist.

The stained-glass panel, created by Paul Calvert, is to go on show in the North Transept in York Minster on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in America.

Paul, 36, said he had wanted to create something to show the hope that followed the destruction.

"After September 11 everyone was shocked and in the newspapers the pictures of planes crashing into the Twin Towers hit me very hard as well," he said. "But there was a picture that came along that made me feel good, it was the firemen raising the Stars And Stripes on the rubble of what was left of the Twin Towers. This image stuck in my mind, thankfully, rather than the images of the plane.

"As an artist I wanted to do something to show my solidarity, and maybe York's solidarity with New York, and this is from "old York" to New York."

Postcards have been printed of the stained glass panel, which is three metres high and two metres wide, and the money raised will go to York firefighters. It will be on display at the Minster until September 24.

Paul, who recently moved to Norway to be with his new wife, Astrid-Beate, hopes to exhibit the panel elsewhere in the UK.

- Former Mayor of New York Rudolph Giuliani - who came to symbolise the city's defiant response to September 11 - is to be the top speaker at the Yorkshire International Business Convention at Harrogate on June 6 next year. Mr Giuliani's courage, compassion and clear-thinking after terror attacks won him worldwide admiration and support.

Updated: 11:34 Thursday, September 05, 2002