A Yorkshire woman has taken a top prize in a national inventors' award scheme.

Tish Fearn was voted British Female Inventor of the Year

for her design of a lightweight, ergonomic fork for mucking out stables.

Her business, Lite-Lift, was nominated in the shortlist for the new business of the year prize in the 2002 Evening Press Business Award.

Mrs Fearn, from Wetherby, spent 12 years developing the fork after she was told she could no longer look after her 200 rescued horses due to chronic tendonitis caused by lifting heavy forks for mucking out. The 46-year-old mother-of-two, who runs a horse sanctuary in Wetherby, said: "There was no way I could give up my horses. I knew the implements I used to muck out exacerbated the pain in the arms and back so I went to the drawing board to find a solution. This award recognises all the hard work and pain over the past 12 years. The painful experiences are no longer there."

Updated: 10:47 Saturday, April 26, 2003