Screen star Jenny Agutter will next month celebrate the centenary of the publication of the book which helped catapult her to

stardom.

She will retrace the steps which she took 35 years ago in the making of the movie The Railway Children, in Haworth.

The novel by E Nesbitt, which was made into a film shot along the five-mile Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, was first published in 1905.

The movie went on to become a timeless classic, popular around the world.

Jenny, 53, is to combine the centenary celebration with a charity walk in aid of sufferers of cystic fibrosis, a disease which has hit her family.

Her niece is a victim and the actress also carries the cystic fibrosis gene.

Jenny, who last month was honoured at the Bradford Film festival with a lifetime achievement award for her work in movies, is due to walk part of the railway on Sunday May 1.

She will renew her acquaintance with many of the locations featured in the Lionel Jeffries film.

She said: "This is a very special year for The Railway Children. I hope people will join me and members of the Nesbit Society - and also help me raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust."

She became aware of the disease after learning that her niece was a sufferer and that the faulty gene was in her family. She herself is a carrier of the gene, she said.

She is backing the trust's bid to raise £15 million over five years.

Tina Davis-Johnstone of the CFT said: "So far we have raised more than £30,000 and hope to raise even more this year.

"We are absolutely delighted that Jenny Agutter is coming this year."

The event is being sponsored by the Bradford & Bingley and the walk is due to start in Haworth Park at 11am and finish at 4pm. People are being invited to come along in Edwardian clothes and have the chance of winning a prize.

l One person in 25 is a carrier of the cystic fibrosis gene - more than 2.3 million people in the UK are carriers. The average life expectancy of a sufferer is 31 years.