A Bradford woman who found solace in art after a motorbike crash left her disabled is to open her first exhibition in the city.

When Deborah Stockdale's work goes on display in the Bradford Industrial Museum at Eccleshill it will be the culmination of a remarkable recovery following the horror smash nine years ago. In March 1991 Deborah was thrown 30ft into the air after the motorbike on which she was riding pillion was in collision with a car on Whetley Hill just outside Bradford.

Her pelvis was shattered when she landed and doctors decided not to reset her hips as there was a risk of leaving the 29-year-old paralysed.

Deborah picked up the paintbrush and followed in her artist mother Josie's footsteps as part of her rehabilitation after the smash which has left her in constant pain.

Mum Josie, 56, who is a well-respected amateur artist, will hang some of her work alongside her daughter's in the exhibition, which is set to open in the Spring of next year.

It will be a real family affair as Deborah's dad Tony is to mount the pictures in their frames.

Deborah, of Hawes Terrace, Little Horton, said: "In one sense the accident was the luckiest day of my life because technically I should have been killed.

"The doctors decided not to operate because there was a real risk I might not walk again if they did and later tests proved they were absolutely right not to.

"Art has helped me get on with my life and express how I feel. It has also brought me closer to my mother and father, with whom I have to live because I can't look after myself."

Deborah said the exhibition - which is as yet untitled - will be industry-based and focus on the history of Bradford.

She said: "I'm looking to paint street scenes of the city in the 1800s and I was also thinking of doing more pictures of Bradford's Jowett cars.

"Mum has exhibited in galleries in Ilkley and Holmfirth and won eighth best picture in the Great Sheffield Art Show out of 1,600 paintings. But this will be my first exhibition so it will be exciting but nerve-racking."