A WIDOW from Colne has been attacked by a knife-wielding gang while in South Africa for her granddaughter's wedding.

Kathleen Strachan, 72, was assaulted as she walked to a railway station in Kraaifontein, 25 miles from the capital Cape Town, with her daughter Lynn Daley.

She was today recovering in hospital with a broken shoulder and facial injuries.

Mrs Strachan was pushed to the floor by a gang of six or seven youths but was unable to break her fall because she suffers congenital paralysis in her arms.

The thugs stole a watch, necklace, a purse containing £1,000 and her passport.

Mrs Strachan, who organises the annual poppy collections for the Royal British Legion in Nelson, had planned to return home next Friday after flying to South Africa for a month to attend her granddaughter Amanda Oliver's wedding.

Mrs Strachan and her daughter were travelling by train from Lynn's home in Kraaifontein to Cape Town because Mrs Daley's car was not working.

Mrs Daley, a chemical sales representative, was on her way to work while Mrs Strachan planned to exchange foreign currency at a bank.

Today Mrs Daley, 47, who was born in England but has lived in South Africa for 30 years, said: "My mother saved hard to come out for the wedding and they have left her penniless.

"They took both our handbags, my mother had just under £1,000. Her passport went -- luckily not her air tickets -- and they took her watch.

"She's in hospital, her shoulder is broken, and they're doing more X-rays to see if they should operate. There's a lot of crime now, gangs of youngsters attacking elderly people -- it's getting terrible here now. My fiance is Zimbabwean and he says we must get out of this country, it's not safe. How many tourists must be hurt before the authorities do something about all this?"

Today, her family in East Lancashire, including son Donald, 36, of Colne, were anxiously waiting for news.

He said: "I have spoken to my sister about what happened. She's really upset about it and pretty disgusted at the way the country is going.

"We were all really shocked and very upset when we heard the news.

"My mother is severely disabled anyway so wouldn't have been able to defend herself, but knowing her, she would have put up a fight."

South Africa is the fastest growing tourism destination in the world and has one of the highest rates of violent crime.