When confronted with an illness or a disability which is quite literally crippling, few people would use the experience as an opportunity to discover their artistic talent.

But the thousands of men, women and children with physical disabilities, who have studied art with the Epsom charity Conquest Art, have learnt their disability is no handicap to their creativity.

The charity, established in 1978, was inspired by the selfless and ground-breaking work of a refugee from Nazi Germany, Ursula Hulme MBE.

Mrs Hulme had studied art at the Reimann School, in Berlin, from 1935 to 1938, and specialised in textile design.

Because her family was of Jewish descent, her father decided they should leave Germany shortly after she graduated from her course.

Fabrics

When she arrived in England at the age of 21, Mrs Hulme worked as a freelance artist designing fabrics until 1956. But she felt unfulfilled and decided she should use her talents to help other people.

In 1958 she told her cousin, who was the superintendent of radiography at Middlesex hospital, London, she would like to teach patients to paint.

The hospital's head of occupational therapy seized upon Mrs Hulme's offer and introduced her to her first student Joy Oates.

Joy's hands were crippled because of the debilitating effects of rheumatoid arthritis.

Pleasure

Now 85-year-old Mrs Hulme says she is determinde to help people with physical disabilities paint because of the pleasure it brought Joy.

She said: "Joy was a young woman very severely disabled with rheumatoid arthritis and I encouraged her to use her crippled fingers to design some patterns.

"As her illness progressed, she was admitted to hospital and became totally paralysed.

"Shortly before she died, she said to me: if only there was something hanging down from over my bed that I could touch gently with one finger so that it would create a line, how happy I would be'.

"That prompted me to devote my life to finding ways and means whereby I could help people in such a desperate situation be able to express their thoughts and feelings, thereby enabling them to create some joy for themselves."

The charity, based at the Cox Lane Center, Cox Lane, believes strongly in the importance of creativity and values highly the work produced by its students.

More than 45 years later, Mrs Hulme still has artwork created by Joy Oates and many of her other students.

Over the next 20 years, Mrs Hulme, with help of a devoted team of volunteer helpers, continued to teach people with physical disabilities for free in her own time without any financial assistance.

During this time she developed techniques to help people suffering from multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, stroke victims and even the blind to express themselves artistically.

After viewing an exhibition of her pupils' work at Bourne Hall in 1977, a local vicar, Richard Spurin, helped Mrs Hulme establish an art society for physically disabled people.

The group became a charity in 1978 and was named Conquest by one of Mrs Hulme's first pupils who said her art was a conquest over her disability.

Since then, the charity has thrived with more than 15 classes at various venues and many affiliated groups.

It has helped thousands of people and currently has more than 70 members.

Healing

Mrs Hulme added: "I believe our main purpose is to try to improve the quality of life for our fellow men and women. Each of us finds his or her own way in order to achieve this aim. As an artist, I have discovered that creativity is a great healing force.

"A few years ago, one of my pupils, who had been a dancer when she was young but now has both her legs amputated, said to me after a class: you give us life in a place of hell'. This is the most moving remark I have ever heard from a pupil but also the most challenging. Someone once said that when we can still love, life still has quality. I am sure that is right."

When asked how she feels about the success of the charity and the joy it brings, Mrs Hulme's response is typically modest.

She simply says: "I am immensely grateful."

Even though Mrs Hulme no longer works full time at the charity, it continues to help physically disabled people in Epsom express themselves artistically.

If you would like to know more about Conquest Art call 020 8397 6157.

January 31, 2003 12:30