GUISELEY is mourning the death of a woman who was dedicated to bringing improvements to the town.

Shirley Hughes-Rowlands set up Guiseley in Bloom twenty years ago and also founded a group to care for the cemetery.

Mrs Hughes-Rowlands, who has died at the age of 86, was born in Leeds and went to Allerton High School. Her father was a builder and her mother had a dress shop.

She met her husband Richard through the Young Conservatives and the couple married in 1955. They moved to Guiseley in 1970 and both played an active role in the life of the town.

Their daughter Alison Gillatt said: “My mum had an antique shop in Menston in the 1970s and early 1980s.

“Then in early retirement she thought that Guiseley was looking untidy and unloved - so she set up Guiseley in Bloom.

“She got a band of volunteers to help her and she was very good at getting grants and fund-raising to get the flowers and the shrubs.”

“She was instrumental in getting the stone saying you are coming to Guiseley, at the roundabout by the retail park.”

After the death of her husband, who had been a ward councillor for the area, Mrs Hughes-Rowlands set up another local group.

Mrs Gillatt said:”When my father died he was buried in Guiseley Cemetery and she thought the cemetery needed some TLC and so she set up the Friends of Guiseley Cemetery, with Barry Bootland. “

Mrs Gillatt said her mother was also responsible for getting benches installed at different locations in the town.

As well as her daughter Mrs Hughes-Rowlands leaves a son, Richard. Her funeral will take place at St Oswald’s Church in Guiseley at 11am on Monday, September 30.