farmer's daughter Claire Dugdale has achieved top exam marks for a piece of artwork inspired by the foot and mouth crisis.

Talented Claire, 16, of Borrins Farm, Stackhouse, took her AS level a year early and scored 90 out of 90 in her course work and 113 out of 120 for her exam piece.

She was the highest scoring student in her year at Settle High School.

Claire's exam piece showed a sad figure, modelled by her brother James, leaning on a gate looking at an empty landscape. She used newspaper cuttings relating to the disaster and included Defra yellow tape and foot and mouth notices.

An emotive piece of work, it rendered her parents, John and Ruth, speechless when they first saw it.

"We just stood there, it made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It was very emotional," said Ruth.

The family was among the first in the area to be taken out with foot and mouth in 2001 and Claire drew on the emotions of the experience for her work.

"There were so many emotions involved in it. It was good to bring it out, but I felt bad on Mum and Dad because they weren't keen on me doing it at first," said Claire, whose other high scoring pieces included a frieze of Cattrigg Force near Stainforth.