A STALWART member of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway has died aged 62.

Julie Bates (nee Carter), who died whilst holidaying on the Caribbean island of Aruba, became the heritage railway's first full-time administration employee in 1990.

A celebration of her life will be held at the Bay Horse in Oxenhope, her home village, on Saturday, June 8, at 2pm.

And it's expected that a steam loco on the five-mile line will carry a wreath on its smokebox that day in her memory.

Julie's husband, Chris, has been a volunteer guard on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway for 41 years and also volunteers on the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway.

Julie moved to Birmingham in 1994 to marry Chris and after working at the University of Birmingham administering a master’s degree course in occupational health, joined the rail section of the former Centro passenger transport authority.

She later became administration manager of the Midland Metro extension in Birmingham and then national co-ordinator of the tramways’ trade body UKTram, covering modern and heritage tramways in the UK, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland.

In 2016, she and Chris moved to Horsington, near Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire.

Julie was a regular at Christmas functions held at Buckingham Palace for members of the Diplomatic Corps, through her husband’s role as overseas representative of Tristan da Cunha, and she accompanied him to meetings on some of the world’s most isolated islands.

They both enjoyed travelling on railways throughout the British Isles and Europe, and steam heritage lines globally.

Tribute has been paid by a former Keighley & Worth Valley Railway colleague, Jim Shipley, who described Julie as having a personality "that could shape mountains, let alone a mere railway office".

He added: "With her can-do attitude, the volunteers immediately took to Julie.

"Her sense of mischief and humour was legendary and infectious.

"Julie was a genuinely wonderful lass who was as unpredictable as she was loveable and reliable. Her path through life was not always a smooth one, but she came through smiling and her passing was both cruel and untimely."

Julie was cremated in Aruba and her ashes were buried in the churchyard of All Saints Church, at Horsington, after a memorial service which raised £1,400 for the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance.

She is survived by Chris and by her brother David Carter, sister Jill Buckley and stepson Robert Bates.