A diary kept by a Silsden woman in the early 1930s, has come to light following her tragic death in Blackpool.

Clarice Throup, who lived in Tufton Street, died aged 89 of multiple injuries after her motorised wheelchair was in a collision with a car.

The diary was found among her belongings by her niece Kate Hardcastle.

Kate, 55, lives in Hothfield Street, the next row of terraces to where her aunt lived more than 60 years ago with her four brothers and a sister.

"The diary's a real treasure to us in the family. It opens up a new world on her life which we didn't know about, especially how she enjoyed her leisure time cycling around the Dales," said Kate.

Clarice's parents ran a greengrocery business in Main Street, Silsden. Her father travelled by horse and cart to buy the produce in Bradford. Some had then to be carted over Cringles to Addingham, where a relative had a grocer's shop.

In her early 20s she set up the Coby Dale Wheelers cycling club. She married Albert Rathbone, whom she met in Coventry during the war and the couple returned to Silsden until they moved to Albert's family farm in Coventry in 1953.

A football pools win of £6,000 - a huge amount in those days - helped them move to Blackpool, where Clarice went into business running a boarding house with her husband and two sons, Gordon and Allan.

The diary starts in November 1931 when Clarice and her three pals - Margaret Clarkson, Margaret Scott and Emma Scott - went on a series of cycle trips. In early January they met three lads from Bradford - Norman, Harold and Walter - and climbed to the top of Malham Cove with them.

The group also organised trips around the Skipton and Bolton Abbey area. On February 21, despite an unexplained row earlier in the month, Harold and Walter met the women again for a trip to Gisburn and Helliield. Clarice wrote: "Tea at Gargrave, Emma quarrelled with the others. Not going with the boys next week."

Something changed their mind because the diary records a plan to meet up for a trip to Conistone and Kettlewell the following weekend - and that is the last mention of the men.

Now Kate hopes to contact any of the characters mentioned in her aunt's diary who may still be living in the area.

"I know it's a long shot, but there could still be someone in the Bradford area who remembers Clarice," she said.

Anyone who remembers Clarice, Norman, Harold, or Walter should call Kate on (01535) 674858.

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