More than 150 people are expected to attend the celebration of the life of Jean Thornton (right), who has died at 85.

She was born Jean Furness, the eldest of 11 children, and spent her early years in the Spen Valley. She learned tailoring before going to work in a textile mill.

On the day that she and her husband Peter Thornton were expelled from the Labour Party because of their support for the peace movement, their first daughter Glenys was born. She went on to become Baroness Thornton of Manningham.

The family moved to Allerton and then to Manningham.

She was a school governor and a youth club leader. She helped establish the Left Club in Bradford. After her divorce in 1973, she ran the Manningham-based Blenheim Project for homeless young women.

Jean Thornton’s funeral will be held at Nab Wood Cemetery, Shipley, at 12.40pm on Friday, April 11, and the celebration of her life at Saltaire’s Victoria Hall at 2pm, are open to all who knew her.