Between 1978 and 1990 Margaret Thatcher made a number of visits to Bradford and the surrounding area.

And despite a backdrop of hostility about her Government’s economic policies, two women who warmed to her were Gerry Greenwood, manageress of the sewing department at Keighley firm Peter Black Holdings, in Lawkholme Lane, and Guiseley fish and chip waitress Audrey Atkinson.

On January 21, 1983, the then Prime Minister attended a Conservative Party lunch at Bingley Arts Centre, the second time in half-a-dozen years she had visited the town.

After lunch she went on to Peter Black’s. During the 90 minutes she spent touring the factory she met Mrs Greenwood, who afterwards told the Telegraph & Argus: “The atmosphere here has been electric. A person in her position coming to see us is a great honour, and she was fantastic. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think she is gutsy. I admire the way she sticks to her guns.”

Mrs Thatcher departed Keighley to cries of “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie ... out, out, out.”

On May 26, 1983, with a General Election pending in June, the Prime Minister stopped off at Harry Ramsden’s fish and chip restaurant in Guiseley, for lunch and a photo opportunity.

After she had eaten she briefly served fish and chips to two little girls, prompting ardent Labour voter Audrey Atkinson to say: “As nice a lady as Mrs Thatcher is, there’s no way I’m going to change.”

From 1985 to 1987 Mrs Thatcher was twice in the city centre. The first time was Sunday, May 12, 1985, the day after the Bradford City fire disaster that killed 56.

She met civic leaders at City Hall and visited some of the people hospitalised with burns. While she was photographed among the smouldering ruins of Valley Parade, her hospital visit was kept quiet.

But her return visit in February, 1987, was not. The Prime Minister wore a Bradford City scarf and was photographed sitting in the new main stand. She told the T&A: “Now for once I have a good reason for wearing red and yellow.”