ARTIST John Hayward visited Blackburn's Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School sixth form art students to inspire them on impressions rather than illustration.

John's works include the statue of Christ the Worker and the corona over the altar, both in Blackburn Cathedral, but he is most renowned for his stained glass windows. These adorn over 150 buildings, mainly churches and cathedrals across England, including the Great West window in Sherborne Abbey in Dorset.

John visited QEGS in Blackburn at the invitation of his nephew, QEGS deputy headmaster Jonathan Cave. He also told the students about the techniques he used to create stained glass designs and encouraged them to be adventurous and to plan on a big scale in their art careers.

Phil Lloyd, development manager, said: "John told an enthralled group of staff and art students that his love of art grew from an enthusiastic art teacher at his school, and that he wanted to create an impression, rather than an illustration, in the scenes depicted in the windows he created."