A GRANDMOTHER is celebrating after spending up to 12 hours a day for five months completing the world’s largest jigsaw.

Retired Rosemary Mulvany, of Redwing Close, Bicester, used 24,000 pieces to construct the 14ft by 5ft puzzle, which now stands proudly in her garage.

Now the 63-year-old, whose home is packed with hundreds of jigsaws, wants to donate the completed puzzle to a local school or hospital so other people can enjoy looking at it.

She is believed to be one of just a handful of people in the country to have completed the challenge.

Mrs Mulvany said: “I’ve always done little puzzles but I really got into it when I lost my son in 2001. It has helped me get over it.

“I found I was finishing them quite quickly so I was getting bigger and bigger ones. I loved this one, I couldn’t stay away from it. It’s just beautiful, the colours are lovely. It’s been my favourite.

“Everytime I was away from it I used to say to my husband, ‘I can hear my puzzle calling me’.

“It’s just therapeutic. It helps you forget everything, all your worries.”

Mrs Mulvany’s husband Colm, 54, a London Underground tube driver, found the puzzle, Life, on the Internet for £155.

She said: “When I had finished it, he rang them to see if they had another one and they couldn’t believe I had finished it in five months.

“I don’t want to break it up, I would like it to go to a school or hospice. There is always something new to see when you look at it.”

Mr Mulvany added: “I’m so proud of her. She has really enjoyed it, I’ve never seen her happier. She is nervous about going out and a little agoraphobic so I love her doing them.”

A spokesman for jigsaw designer Royce B McClure said they had 109 reports worldwide of the puzzle being completed.

eallen@oxfordmail.co.uk Any institutions interested in displaying the puzzle can email Mr Mulvany on cmmul@hotmail.co.uk