It will feature up to 45 of the Knutsford artist's paintings in her distinctive style of pen and watercolours.

"If I can't tell what kind of shoes my figures are wearing then it isn't detailed enough," said Pat.

Her great attention to detail is at odds to the simplistic style of the friend who inspired her - L S Lowry.

But the subject of Pat's exhibition - environmental damage to Cheshire - is one which would have been close to Mr Lowry's heart.

"He loved Cheshire, particularly Knutsford," said Pat.

"He thought King Street was one of the prettiest streets in England."

Since his death in 1976, Pat has answered hundreds of letters from eager art students asking why Mr Lowry was so morose.

But she insists he has been unfairly portrayed.

"He was so sociable and not miserable at all," she said. "He was like an eight-year -old boy - mischievious and full of fun."

Pat finally decided to set the record straight and wrote a book about her friendship with the great artist.

And next week the small pocket book - Mr Lowry's Clown -will be published.

In it she hopes to show the joyful and innocent side of the artist which has often remained hidden.

In 1948 Mr Lowry arrived in Pat's village, Mottram-in-Longdendale.

When her father was called to the artist's house to fit an indoor toilet, he told Mr Lowry that his daughter was fond of drawing.

Pat, then just 13, was invited to meet Mr Lowry, starting a friendship that would last the rest of his life.

"My first impression of Mr Lowry was of a very tall, loose limbed, lively man with intensely blue sparkling eyes," said Pat.

"He seemed to find everything amusing."

Laughter and fun characterised their relationship. Mr Lowry gave Pat a set of oil paints, small canvasses and advice which has stayed with her ever since.

"He was a powerful influence on me but always wanted me to use oil paints," she said.

"I told him that I could only paint in my own style."

Eventually Mr Lowry accepted that she had to develop on her own and towards the end of his life he bought one of her paintings.

"I would've given him the painting, but he insisted on buying it which was a great honour," she said. At 16 Pat attended a Manchester art school for two years before moving to an art school in London.

In 1956 she married her husband Brian, settling in the Knutsford home the couple still live in today.

She taught for the next nine years at Altrincham Girls Grammar School, but moving away did not sever her friendship with Mr Lowry.

He often visited the couple, staying in different hotels in Knutsford while Pat worked hard on her exhibition work.

Mr Lowry was particularly fond of the Royal George, but whatever hotel Pat always checked the room first.

"I am sure the ladies in the hotel used to think I was a prostitute," she said.

"They used to be shocked when I came down again and went home with Brian. They must have thought he was the taxi driver."

Mr Lowry's love of Cheshire and the traditional meant he looked forward to Knutsford's May Day festivities.

"His favourite characters were the soldiers and the little girl being carried in the sedan chair," said Pat.

Often the couple accompanied him on sketching trips to Macclesfield Forest. They also visited the North East and Ireland together.

But he was, said Pat, a shy man.

"If there were more than two people in a room he became overcome with nerves," said Pat. She no longer owns any Lowry paintings but believes his advice was a wonderful inheritance.

"He often didn't go to bed before 3am and believed in working hard," she said.

"This keenness to work has been passed on to me."

Pat's exhibition, Farewell to Cheshire, opens in Chester next year.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.