An interesting batch of papers have found their way to the Express giving a glimpse into the history of Wilmslow Albion Football Club, one of the oldest in Cheshire.

The package was handed to us by Edna Bayley, the wife of the late Gordon Bayley who was a player, treasurer, manager and secretary in his time with Wilmslow Albion.

Edna, of Thorngrove Park, Wilmslow, said: "The papers were sitting around and couldn’t go in the bin. Wilmslow Albion is an important part of the town’s history, something ‘the village’ as it was called was proud of.

"Albion has had its highs and lows but it’s still going and Gordon would have been very pleased."

Included in Gordon’s paperwork are balance sheets from the late 40s and early 50s, which show the club spent £2 0s and 6p on cigarettes and £63 on the ladies supporters club in 1948/49.

There is an invoice for the hire of the Wilmslow Conservative Hall for a Whist Drive and Dance on June 13 1953 - for £4, plus 50p for an extension to the licence.

Also in the documents is a telegram from 1953 reading: ‘Best of luck, two points to win’ and Thomas H Jones, of Prestwich, Manchester, sent a cheque for £4,141 for the fixture list for the 1953/54 season, which he had published and distributed for the club.

And a page from the Evening Chronicle on December 12, 1953 shows a cartoon of the Albion players and ‘backroom boys’ which included Gordon Bayley.

At that time they were in their third season in the Mid Cheshire League, described in the cartoon as ‘tangerine boys’ clearly giving their rivals the pip!’.

The 34-strong club, now in the Manchester League First Division and with an under-13s team, was set up in 1919 and spent a large part of its early history in the South East Lancashire League, runners-up in the 1928/9 season.

Success came too in the League Shield, winning twice in seasons 1937/8 and 1939/40, and the Brown Cup in 1936/7 and they won the Altrincham Senior Cup in successive seasons 1937/8 and 1938/9.

The Mid Cheshire League was the next port of call for Albion, culminat ing in the winning of the League Cup in 1960/1.

But a dip in the club’s success came in 1974 when it nearly disappeared completely.

They were saved in a merger with local side Lindow and saw a change of name to Wilmslow Town, then competing in the Lancashire and Cheshire Amateur League with their base at the Old Carnival Field on Water Lane.

But they broke away again in 1976 and with only four players, four committee members and £2,000 they joined with players from Dean Vale to become Albion again.

Club secretary Geoff Thornton, who was one of the Dean Vale players and played until 1989, said: "The club could have folded but we managed to scrape teams together and quickly grew."

Albion was soon promoted from Division 3 to Division 1 in the Lancashire and Cheshire League and the 1982/3 season was probably the most impressive playing record in the club’s history - when all three teams won in their division.

But a move to the current ground at Oakwood Farm in Styal in 1986 was believed by some to set them back.

Geoff said: "Carnival Fields was Albion’s pitch for a long time and we had a great pitch in the centre of the community, with the money to build a fantastic clubhouse for the whole community.

"But we were told we couldn’t develop Carnival Field and had to move to Oakwood Farm, where we had to spend £30,000 on the pitch and didn’t have enough money to build a brick clubhouse. Albion used to get big crowds in the 1950s and 60s, maybe 700 for local derbies, now we are lucky if get 20 people. If we had stayed at Carnival Field we would have had a fantastic building and gone from strength to strength, perhaps into the North West League, the move out to Styal held us back."

In his 34 years with Albion Geoff has been a player, manager, secretary, chairman and groundsman.

He added: "I must be mad, but I stick with Albion after having played for them for so long. I don’t think the club gets the support it deserves and we welcome new players, we will take anyone but particularly local players.  We are a friendly club, we have a fantastic clubhouse to be proud of. We have had ups and downs over the years but have still got two strong sides and a good junior team. I've had some great times with the club and hope we carry on expanding."

Visit www.wilmslowalbionfc.co.uk .