Heather Clarke shed six stone in weight - and her diet has led to an acting career. FIONA TARRANT reports...

Heather Clarke is having the time of her life. "I can honestly say, I haven't had so much fun in years. I'm enjoying my life more now than when I was a teenager," said the school matron. We featured Heather in the Oxford Mail in January, when she shed six stone in weight in less than six months and went down from size 26 to size 12.

"I've kept the weight off, which is harder than the dieting," she said, "and the whole experience has given me a new lease of life."

Heather, of St Mary's Road, Cowley, is matron at Westminster Cathedral Choir School, and divides her time between Oxford and London.

But her weight loss has given her more than just energy.

Her story, which was also reported on TV, has led to a new career in acting. "One of the boy's mother is a casting director at Saatchi and Saatchi and she put me forward for a TV advert," explained Heather, a Scotswoman who is in her 40s.

The part she has was supposed to be as a non-speaking extra in the Norwich Union advert but the director approached her and asked her to speak.

"I was a hospital visitor. I was handed a pair of pyjamas and asked to talk about them to the patient I was visiting. I came out with a line and it was used," said Heather.

Since then things have certainly moved on. Heather now has four agents, three for walk-on parts as an extra and the fourth for speaking parts.

"That's very exciting because they cast for programmes like The Bill and EastEnders."

This week, she hosted a big thank-you lunch, inviting all the people who have helped her in her struggle to lose weight, including representatives from Slimming World, plus choristers, past and present, who have supported Heather and given her encouragement over the past year.

Among those invited was chorister James Turner- Inman and his parents William and Mary. William and Heather are waiting to hear whether they've been accepted to appear on the TV programme Style Challenge in which people are given a totally new look. The table at the luncheon was heaving with food but, fortunately, all of it fitted into Heather's diet plan.

And the choristers said thankyou to Heather with an impromptu sing-song which brought tears of pride to her eyes. "Everyone has been so supportive.

I started my weight loss to raise money for the Westminster Cathedral Music Foundation and everyone has helped," she said.

They're all looking out for Heather on TV now, as well as in the school's refectory.

Heather is appearing on the BBC later this year in a series about great philosophers. Although she doesn't appear in any speaking parts, she loved the whole experience.

"I feel that my fulfilment comes through the lens of a camera.

"I haven't given up my job as matron but I am pursuing my ambition to be a character actress. I'm like a sponge, soaking up everything when I go along to these jobs.

"I'm not saying I want my name in lights, but I do feel I could make a career of this.

"It's also saying there is life after middle age. I lost all that weight, which made me feel great and now I'm doing something else I enjoy.

"It's as if the hormones stop working and you take over. I'm loving it," she said.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.