‘IF IT’S Tuesday, this must be Belgium.’

Or it could be Holland, Norway, Sweden, Germany or Spain. For Vera Roper and her husband Stanley, travelling through European countries was part of life, taking countless Bradfordians on holiday.

After setting up Ropers - the company that bears their name to this day - the couple took passengers on day trips from their Bradford base and to other parts of the UK including the south coast, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Wight. They later travelled across the Channel to explore Europe.

“We used to call Mum Queenie for fun,” says her daughter Alison Grice. “She had spent so many years living in hotels and having everything done and meals cooked. “When we called her that she would laugh and stick her tongue out at us.”

Working in the job she loved until the age of 80 before retiring, Vera died peacefully on February 15, aged 85 and will be remembered by many who travelled with her over the years.

Vera and Stanley founded Ropers in 1972. “My dad used to mend cranes and then began to work part-time as a coach mechanic,” says Alison. “I remember we once had part of a coach engine being fixed in the dining room.”

Stanley did some work for a local coach firm and it triggered something in him, leading to him buying his own coach.

With Vera accompanying her husband as courier, school trips turned to day trips and in time further afield.

“Mum was working part-time in accounts for a printing firm, and acting as courier on day trips,” says Alison. “She really enjoyed it, and they worked well together. When we were kids we would sometimes go along, and later they would pinch the grandchildren and take them off on one of their holidays.”

She adds: “Mum used to do all the organising. She did all the brochures herself. They had so many regular passengers. One lady used to go on a trip every month.”

Vera met Stanley when at Blackhills Camp Site in Wilsden. “Mum was cub master for 27th Bradford West St Chad’s group and Dad belonged to the 42nd Bradford West St Clare’s Rover Crew,” says Alison. “At the camp another group of cubs needed supervising temporarily and they stepped in.

“I think it was love at first sight. My dad always said he married his best friend - my mum’s maiden name was Friend.”

They married in 1958 at St Chad’s Church, Manningham, and went on to have children, Ian, in 1963, and Alison in 1967. Her family grew with the addition of grandchildren Matty, now 21, and Aimee, 18.

“She was a wonderful mum, she took us all over,” says Alison. “She was brilliant at sewing. We even wore matching dresses at times when I was young. She worshipped her grandchildren. Her face would light up when she saw them.”

One of the couple’s coaches was called Bob the Bova. “Bob was Dad's new Bova Futura coach that he bought for his 60th birthday. He and Mum travelled to Eindhoven in the Netherlands to see it being made in the factory,” said Alison.

Vera was determined to carry on the business after Stanley died of a heart attack in 2006 while on a trip in Wales. “It was sudden and a big shock for us all,” says Alison, a nurse. “She decided to keep the trips going in his memory.”

Gary Boland, a close family friend and proprietor of Wrexham-based Tour2Cruise, took over the business and retained the firm’s name. “He is a really good friend, an absolute star,” says Alison.

Says Gary: “We met in February 1987 when I was a young, aspiring hot-shot of the European driving circuit, hired in to cover additional capacity requirements on a weekend tour to Belgium. She soon grounded me and schooled me in the traditional Ropers’ way of “treating folk”.

“Vera always seemed as though she was on holiday with friends, rather than escorting clients. It was her life.”

He adds: She entrusted me with the Ropers’ brand and wanted the family ethos to continue. I hope we’ve done her proud.

It was not until 2014 that Vera decided to empty her well- travelled suitcase and retire - something that did not come easy to her.

Vera also leaves her son-in-law Alan, sisters Violet, Joan, twins Pauline and Moira and brother Brian, and their partners, sister-in-law Anita, cousins, nephews and nieces.

Her funeral, at St Michael’s and All Angels Church in Cottingley, was held on the anniversary of Stanley’s death.

“It was a lovely funeral. David Nunn who conducted it, also did my dad’s funeral,” adds Alison. Mum was so adamant that she wanted David to do her funeral she arranged it with him a couple of years ago. “

The service was watched online by people across the country who could not attend due to Covid restrictions, including the proprietors of the Winnock Hotel in Loch Lomond, where Ropers has been taking holidaymakers for 33 years.