SHE was one of Huddersfield’s most popular dance teachers.

Yet memories of Nora Bray, the woman who taught the young Roy Castle to dance, have all but faded.

Now a former teacher at the school and her husband have launched an appeal for former pupils and staff to share their memories.

Kent-born Alan Sunnocks met his wife Clare Lightfoot during his national service training in Huddersfield in 1943.

Clare, who lived in the Leeds Road area of Huddersfield, was a teacher for Nora Bray’s school of dance in the 1940s.

Alan, who was training as a radio signaller in town, first met Clare when she and the school entertained the trainee servicemen with a performance of Follies on Parade at St Patrick’s Hall (now the site of Huddersfield Bus Station).

Alan, now 88, married Clare, now 86, in 1947 after serving two years as a radio mechanic in the Far East.

The pair moved to a small village near Maidstone, Kent, where they live today.

Born in Springwood, Nora Bray began teaching dance in the late 1920s.

She taught Roy Castle some of his steps when the late Scholes-born TV performer was aged eight to 12.

Nora, who lived on Trinity Street, staged more than 200 shows for the troops during World War Two.

And Nora, who had several studios in Huddersfield, wasn’t limited to teaching successes.

She and dance partner, Frank Noble, won numerous dance competitions including the ITV Let’s Dance contest in 1961.

She continued teaching at Gledholt Methodist Sunday School until a few months before her death in 1990.

Alan, a retired engineer, said: “It was a song and dance show. That’s where I spotted Clare’s legs. She’s still got a good figure!

“The show was good. The Nora Bray school had been entertaining troops around the country so they had to be good.

“War time entertainment was a valuable thing and Huddersfield was full of signallers.

“I was mulling over whether any of the Follies on Parade were still in Huddersfield. We’re hoping we can find some more. I wonder if anyone can remember my wife.”

Were you involved with Nora Bray’s dance school? Call us: 01484 437774.