She organised canteens and hostels as well as led a mobile hospital unit for rescued people from concentration camps through the Catholic Women's League in Ulster.

Sykes served with Catholic Relief Services on missions in Holland and Germany at the end of the war.

[1] Sykes exhibited Bronze head: Alexander (1948) and The descent from the cross (1949) at the Royal Hibernian Academy and they were the only two works shown there.

In 1961 Sykes created the nativity scene design for the stained-glass window in the church of the Immaculate Conception in Glenarm.

She created the paint of the apocalypse on the chancel ceiling of Holy Trinity church, Edenbridge, Kent.

In 1969 For the Broadway tower of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast she created the Hand of healing sculpture.

Other displays of her work took place in the Institute of the Sculptors of Ireland (1953–7) and the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts (1956).

She served on the Northern Ireland Arts Council, and was a founder and first president of the Association of Ulster Drama Festivals.

She died at Glenarm castle 27 August 1984, and was buried in the MacDonnell family graveyard.