A century-old song which extols Shipley Glen is to be resurrected and performed at Saltaire Festival. Meet Me, Gwen, On Shipley Glen will be heard again on Saturday afternoon for the first time in decades.

The Boltonians Entertainment Group, from Thackley, will be singing the song and other popular tunes, while dressed in Edwardian garb, to visitors on the Shipley Glen Tramway on Prod Lane, Baildon.

Local historian Clive Woods said little was known about the origins of the song, which was written in about 1900.

"Anyone who went to the tramway in the 1930s will know the song as we think it was sung on the tramway and on the glen," he said.

"This song has been about for years and years and it is probably the official anthem of Shipley Glen and the tramway.

"We are very keen to know more about the composer, Jimmy Sutton, and the lyricist, Reg Bolton. We think the lyricist was a musical comedian and the song was written about 1900, maybe slightly earlier.

"We had a copy of the music so we have got it printed specially and gave it to the group to sing."

The song, telling the tale of a courting couple, is believed to have been popular with mill workers walking up the Glen and over the moors to the Fleece Inn, above Eldwick, owned by Dick Hudson, and now named after him.

Richard Freeman, from the tramway, said its trustees got to hear about the song from a special day of "memory" when people brought their recollections of the trams.

One of the participants had sung the song into a tape recorder and the music had then been transcribed specially for the group.

Mr Freeman said: "I can't imagine it has ever been performed professionally; it was a song families sang really. It probably won't have been heard for many, many years."

The Boltonians are a group of former singers from the Bolton Methodist Church, at Bolton Junction, which started in 1990 after a 30-year reunion.

"We gave a donation to the tramway and, through that, got to know them. They asked us if we would be willing to sing on the platform as part of the festival," said member Joyce Poot.

"We have never performed the song before so we are looking forward to that and we will also be singing songs from the first world war and the second world war. We are hoping people will join in the singing."

Anyone who has information about the tramway or the song should contact the tramway's trustees at Shipley Glen Tramway, Prod Lane, Baildon, BD17 5BN.