She may not like to hear it, but charity worker is an angel from the North

But Miss Pattison, who hails from Frosterley but now spends much of her time in India working with lepers, is uncomfortable with such saintly tags and insists she gets as much out of her work as she puts in.

A fine arts graduate, she first featured in the D&S Times four years ago when she launched the charity, Start, aimed at helping women and girls overcome what is a curable disease.

Her involvement began during a working holiday when she was given the opportunity to work in central India for six months, teaching girls in a hostel within a leper colony at Dattapur.

One of the victims, who fought a six-year battle with leprosy and a reaction to the treatment, was Usha Patil, who was to have a huge impact on her.

"I was 23 when I went to the colony and it made a big impression on me," she said. "Meeting those girls made me realise what I had in comparison. Usha was an inspiration to me, because she was near my own age yet her life had been so different.

"She was difficult to communicate with, but I was forced to sit with her and she was forced to talk to me, because I taught her English for her exams," she added. "I was impressed that she wanted to do something better with her life and wanted to help others with leprosy."

The pair now work together for Start, which was registered as a charity in the UK in 2000 and in India in 2002. Their plans to build a centre are on hold as they wait to see if they have been awarded a licence to allow them to transfer funds they have raised in the UK into India.

"To import money you normally have to be registered as a charity in India for three years," said Miss Pattison. "But Usha and I have appealed to the Minister for Home Affairs for a special permit and should hear any day whether we have been successful.

"The work we do has been inspected and been given a favourable report, so fingers crossed."

Her work among women lepers is constantly evolving. She began by working in colonies, out-patient departments and villages, where she conducted surveys to track early signs of the disease. But due to a national programme which concentrated its efforts in villages, those people are now more knowledgeable than city slum dwellers.

"City slum life is a lot harder than village slum life, so Usha and I decided we would concentrate on the urban environments we were given to survey," said Miss Pattison, herself cured of leprosy, which she stresses is completely treatable if not neglected.

Through the World Health Organisation, the Indian government provides free medicine, which the women distribute.

They also change dressings as well as addressing social problems and physical abuse, dealing with about 300 cases at any time.

"It was very difficult at first to gain any kind of trust," she said, even though she can speak the local language, Marthi, well enough to be understood.

"Many of the women had been subjected to abuse by their families, who feel stigmatised, so they are very suspicious and we have to work very hard and slowly to break down barriers," she added. "They are fatalistic about their position and often very depressed."

She and Miss Patil travel around the city, which has 400 slums, on scooters, attracting lots of attention as they are the only two people to wear crash helmets. They cover about 60 miles a day.

Victims of leprosy often suffer nerve damage, if the disease has gone untreated, and lose sensation in their hands and feet. Miss Pattison told of rats in the slums being able to smell the resulting ulcers.

"There have been cases of rats chewing at the ulcers in the night, with the victims lying unaware because they have no feeling," she said.

She and Miss Patil, who is staying with Miss Pattison's family in Frosterley as part of a holiday and fundraising trip, are hoping that if they are granted the licence which will allow them to transfer money it will take their work forward.

"It costs Start around £100 to rebuild a modest, weather- and rat-proof house to keep a vulnerable victim safe," she said. "They might have lost fingers and burn themselves when they try to cook, so we have begun a meals on wheels service giving two nutritious, hot meals a day."

They are well known and respected by the authorities in Nagpur, Miss Patil's home city, and are ready to open their centre as soon as the permit is granted

As well as treatment and counselling, they offer legal advice, rehabilitation and training to enable the women to work and regain their self-respect and sense of worth. They also organise day trips for the women, who might never have left the slums in their lives.

"We have a pact not to talk about problems on the trips, yet those who have recovered still manage to have a positive effect on those who are negative," said Miss Pattison. "So having a centre will make that work easier."

Miss Patil's brother has also become involved in their work, travelling into the slums at night when it is not safe for the women to go.

Miss Pattison's work has seen her named Woman of the Year in the UK and earned her an invitation to Buckingham Palace last month when the Queen hosted the first all-female lunch for women who make a difference. Unable to take in that she is quite famous in her own right, she was suitably star struck by "bumping bottoms with celebrities".

She rubbed shoulders with former newscaster Moira Stewart, who was very friendly and remembered her from their meeting at Woman of the Year. She also spotted Kate Adie, Heather Mills-McCartney, Harry Potter author J K Rowling, Dame Shirley Bassey, fashion icon Mary Quant, Baroness Thatcher and actress and novelty cake guru Jane Asher.

However, as a fine arts graduate, she was most impressed by her encounter with Portuguese artist Paula Rego, whose work involves portraying the darker side of nursery rhymes.

"I was excited to meet her, and as neither of us knew what was expected of us, Paula pushed me and we followed Jane Asher's lead," she said.

This involved the 180 guests filing past the Queen, the Princess Royal and the Countess of Wessex into an ante-room before moving to the ballroom for lunch.

"There was an orchestra playing on a balcony and we sat at circular tables after choosing our food from a buffet," said Miss Pattison.

She at first sat next to Charlotte Church, but was somewhat startled when the teenage singer was gently moved by a royal butler to allow the Princess Royal to sit next to her.

"The princess seemed to make a point of talking to us non-celebs and was escorting a woman who had lost her forearms," she said. "She knew about leprosy from her involvement with Save the Children and was very knowledgeable.

"I found her really nice and down to earth. She was friendly, warm and responsive and that impressed me a lot."

She then met Labour chief whip Hilary Armstrong, who is her MP and a friend of her mother. She introduced her to the prime minister's wife, Cherie Blair, who Miss Pattison said was also knowledgeable about the disease.

But Miss Pattison was keen to point out that Miss Patil also deserved recognition, and received a standing ovation when she joined her at the Woman of the Year event.

So what does the future hold? While Miss Pattison does not seek out fame, she is wise enough to realise that any publicity she can get results in funds for their charity.

A fortnight ago, following a trip to London to appear on the Radio 4 programme, Midweek, with presenter Libby Purves, she later met up with Bafta award-winning film producer Sue Summers, who had contacted her with the aim of turning her story into a film.

Miss Pattison's brother, Mark, who works for Granada television, is also keen to make a documentary about his sister.

In the meantime, she will leave the opulence of Buckingham Palace and return to India and the slums in June to continue her work with Miss Patil.

* To make a donation to Start, log on to the web site at www.leahpattison.org or send a cheque or postal order made payable to Start to Frosterley Cottage, Intake Lane, Frosterley, Bishop Auckland.