RETIRED engineer Sydney Morris has helped an elderly woman take up sewing again.

Former seamstress Susan Castle has been unable to work with cloth since a stroke 10 years ago left her paralysed down her left-side.

But Sydney, 84, from Oakes has designed a machine which allows Susan to sew one-handed.

The device uses magnets to hold the material in place and forks to raise the cloth up so it can be stitched with one hand using a needle and thread.

Sydney took five months to develop the machine, testing it with one hand behind his back.

He said yesterday: “I just kept going, looking at problems and trying to find solutions.”

Sydney was technical director at James Bailey Engineering at Slaithwaite before he retired.

He has worked with Rehabilitation Engineering Movement Advisory Panels (REMAP) since 2002. The charity provides customised equipment for disabled people.

The Leeds/Bradford branch was asked in December to develop a sewing machine for Susan, 66, of Halifax.