AN art gallery enjoyed a slot in the national spotlight when it featured on national television.

Gillian Berry of the Haworth Art Gallery in Hollins Lane, Accrington, was interviewed in an episode of Antiques Roadtrip shown on BBC1 on Thursday.

Ms Berry, deputy manager and curator, talked with presenter James Braxton about Joseph Briggs and the Tiffany glass collection about which she is writing for her MA.

She watched the footage, which was recorded in April, at her home after her day’s work.

She said: “I recorded it and watched it with my family. It’s always a little bit strange because you never know how you are going to come across.

“I was really pleased. I have been told I have a real Lancashire accent, which makes it all that little bit more authentic.”

Joseph Briggs left Accrington in 1891 at just 17 when he bought a one-way ticket to New York. Two years later he had a chance encounter with Louis Comfort Tiffany, an entrepreneur introducing the lamps, vases, stained glass windows and other artistic creations that would bring him universal and lasting fame.

Joseph became one of the firm’s finest craftsmen, responsible for some of its greatest works. But when art nouveau and Tiffany passed into obscurity in the 1930s he closed down the company, sending more than 130 of the finest Tiffany pieces back to his home town.

When art nouveau came back into fashion in the 1970s the Haworth opened its first exhibition of Tiffany glass, where the beautiful items still remain.

Ms Berry said she had had a good response to the TV appearance, adding: “We have had quite a few people in today on the back of the show. I have been recognised and had some lovely comments.

“The TV people were very friendly. It’s very strange speaking into a camera but they made me feel comfortable.”

Now Ms Berry is hoping more TV exposure for the gallery may be on the way, with the BBC’s popular early evening One Show looking into the possibility of filming there.

She is heading to America next week to attend a seminar at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York state, where she will give a lecture on Joseph Briggs.

She has also won a research grant to enable her to spend time researching in America.