WHEN a mass clearance of unused material was instigated by Ayr United almost 25 years ago after Helen Nelson retired as club secretary she managed to rescue some historic documents and vital memorabilia from being mistakenly thrown away.

She kept them safe until her death nine years later.

Last year before he passed on, her husband Hugh arrived at the house of club historian Duncan Carmichael and he used them as part of the theme of a new Ayr United book.

The Monkton man has now garnered much of the material for his 12th book on the Honest Men, Ayr United - The Compendium, which is dedicated to the Nelsons.

“To be honest the publishers were after a history book but I told them I had covered that in Walking Down the Somerset Road and the material I received helped me achieve what I wanted,” he said.

“ I found some fascinating things – for instance a letter Ayr had written to the LNER asking if the Pullman Glasgow to London Express could make an unscheduled stop at Berwick to allow them to get off with all their gear for a Scottish Cup tie in 1924, but that was politely declined.

"There were also requests from the club to the American and Canadian FA in 1929 asking if Ayr could tour there. But both FA’s rejected it. The Canadians said they already had a touring party that year and I’m not sure about the Americans.”

The book, as you would expect with walking encyclopedia Duncan is crammed full of fascinating facts and illustrations, many of which have come from the Advertiser.

For instance, now Hurlford United manager Darren Henderson was the oldest scorer of a competitive goal for Ayr United. He was aged 38 years, 88 days when he scored in a third round home Scottish Cup tie against Stranraer in January 8, 2005.

Finn Ecrepont was the first player born in the 21st Century to make an appearance for Ayr.

He played against Dundee United in November last year.and was born in July 30, 2002. John “Spud” Murphy holds the club record number of appearances.

He made an incredible 597 starts between August, 1963 and February 1968.