Keighley woman offers £1,000 reward to locate precious family heirloom (From Keighley News)

Keighley woman offers £1,000 reward to locate precious family heirloom

3:43pm Thursday 27th September 2012 in Keighley

A 92-year-old Keighley woman is offering a £1,000 reward for the return of a lost tiger-claw necklace.

Lorraine Lambert (pictured with the necklace) had worn the heirloom – which recalls her family's circus past – around her neck for many years. The necklace was misplaced last December near Woodlands, in Mill Lane, Oakworth, and has not turned up in jewellery shops.

The claw came from a tiger that was in the same circus as one of Lorraine's ancestors, and dangled from a gold chain.

Lorraine, who hails from the North-West, performed in a circus and in the London theatre when she was younger.

Her grandfather Thomas Chapman – great nephew of famous railway engineer George Stephenson – spent many years in services and roadshows.

Performing in a Wild West show in the 1890s as a cowboy and Indian, he met his future wife Ellen when she was a wire-walker and horse rider.

Thomas later had a trapeze act in Poulo's Circus with his son, and after the show finished in Skipton he settled with relatives in Barrow.

Lorraine knows from a photograph that her grandfather wore the necklace in 1944 at his golden wedding celebration, but believes it may have been passed down by an earlier relative.

Lorraine’s friend Julie Steed said she had visited local pawnbrokers and jewellers’ shops after the necklace was lost, but nobody had reported seeing it.

Anyone with information about the necklace's whereabouts is asked to phone Julie on (01535) 657127 or 07951 416757.