Walker Irene Hudson is stepping back in time to trace the history of a Bradford club.

She is researching Bradford Countrywide Holidays Association Rambling and Social Club to mark its centenary being celebrated this year.

And she is hoping people across the district will come forward with information about the club's founding members and its activities over the years, which have included sending youngsters whose families could not afford holidays on trips to Grassington and Whitby.

"I'm hoping some of the relatives of the people who founded the club in 1903 will still be around in the Bradford area - possibly grandchildren or nephews and nieces," said Mrs Hudson.

She has already started gathering information about three founder members of the club - H Y Claybourn, Margaret Musgrove and Alex Barber.

"They would have been around in 1943, during the war, when the club was still sending poor children from Bradford on holiday," she said. "Because of the work they were doing, they would have been well known in the area.

"People from the Bradford club also used to give up a week of their time and go and look after the children while they were on holiday.

"Every year they would have a reunion so the children who had been away on holiday could get back together and talk about what a good time they had. It was very much a community thing."

Mrs Hudson said she had already traced a substantial amount of archive material dating back to 1922 but was anxious to get more information, including about the actual founding of the club, along with personal stories from people who had enjoyed being part of the club's activities. "We know there used to be three different sections of the club - walking, tennis and cycling," she said.

The club - which currently has more than 300 members - is holding a centenary dinner dance later in the year and hopes to publish a book after that, possibly with the help of a National Lottery grant.

Club traditions include an annual walking holiday and Sunday coach trips to take members to the Yorkshire Dales or Peak district for walks. The club has also raised money for charity over the years and Mrs Hudson is completing her own fundraising walk during the next month. She and other club members have been doing the route from Bradford to Edinburgh in stages and will complete the walk on Friday, May 30.

In 2001 she raised more than £200 for the Telegraph & Argus Bradford Can . . . Cancer Research Appeal by walking from Brighton to London with her husband, Roy.

Anyone who can help with sponsorship - or who has information about the history of the Bradford CHA Rambling and Social Club - can contact Mrs Hudson at irene@irenehudson.fsnet.co.uk