Some people whose lives cross your path can make a big impression on you, especially when they provide a strong link to a bygone age.

One such character was Mrs Vera Morgan, who John Fearnley got to know in the late 1960s when she lived in an apartment in Emm Lane, Heaton, on the corner of Park Drive, with fine views over Lister Park and what he describes as "The Bradford Valley".

Mr Fearnley was prompted to write to me after reading a feature about the Fosters of Denholme, because Mrs Morgan was herself a Foster. Or at least her mother was. Her father's name was Thompson.

Mr Fearnley recalls that Mrs Morgan, who was born in 1894, would remember as a girl and young woman before the First World War attending funerals in Denholme for Foster relatives.

"I played a bridge four every week at Mrs Morgan's apartment - she was a wonderful hostess," he writes. "If my memory serves me correctly, above the fireplace was an oil painting of Benjamin Foster, and Mrs Morgan would proudly tell the story of how her ancestor was lost on the moors in heavy snow and how Shep his dog tried to keep his master warm, but to no avail.

"I am not sure whether the painting included Shep, but there was a suggestion that it was by Branwell Bronte, a contemporary and friend."

Mrs Morgan moved home in the early 1970s to a smaller apartment. While it was being prepared and redecorated the painting was stolen, along with other items. The culprits were never found.

Mr Fearnley continues: "Mrs Morgan was from a moneyed, high-society Bradford background. She remembered visiting the Ferrands at the St Ives Mansion as a girl, riding up the drive in a horse and carriage.

"I believe her fiancé was killed in the First World War, in which Mrs Morgan served as a nurse. She married a Mr Morgan in 1928 at St Barnabas Church, Heaton, and they first lived at Frizley Hall above Canal Road, near the Mucky Duck' pub. In the Second World War they moved to Wales where, I believe, Mr Morgan was Wool Controller' for Wales. He died in the 1940s and by the 1960s Mrs Morgan was living at Emm Lane.

"She was a remarkable person, very kind and generous., Towards the end of her life she lived in one of the Abbeyfield Homes in North Park Road. She died in 1979, aged 85, and St Barnabas Church was packed for her funeral."

Mr Fearnley recalls Mrs Morgan once relating how, on holiday in the South of France during the 1930s, she was hit on the leg by a golf ball struck by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) who was playing on the adjacent fairway. The prince, who was infamous for being a poor golf player, came running over to apologise.