A YORK woman has battled against disability and homelessness to beat the odds and set up her own ceramic art business.

Denise Morgan was homeless four years ago and is registered disabled as she has suffered horrendous migraines since having a virus in her optic nerve ten years ago.

Yet Denise, who has two teenage children, has set up a new ceramics business which is based at her home in Dringhouses.

Her latest creation, seven ceramic heads, each depict different types of migraine-related pain. Her model was her 16-year-old son, Jason.

Denise's success is illustrated by the fact that the seven ceramic heads are going to be on show at a symposium in London.

She said: "I was told I was unemployable because the migraines mean I can't do a nine to five job.

"If I have a bad migraine, it can mean I'm in bed for five or six days. But I thought that I had to do something with my life rather than sitting having a headache."

So Denise enrolled at the College of Ripon and York St John and completed an art and design course there in June this year.

She set up her own business on August 1, with her own pottery at her home.

Her work is either sold in York city centre on a stall or sold to galleries.

"The business has come from nothing and things are going well so far," she said.

PICTURE: HEAD LINE: Denise Morgan with the ceramic heads she has created at her pottery workshop at Dringhouses, York

Picture: Garry Atkinson