AS young football fans they used to swap match day souvenir programmes.

Now, 51 years on, the beautiful game has again brought Bolton Wanderers-mad Ruth Crawshaw and avid Aston Villa supporter John Flanner together.

And the two met for the first time in person when the teams played each other in a Championship match last Saturday.

Mr Flanner, from Solihull, first got in touch with Mrs Crawshaw, nee Arthern, in the early 1960s to swap football programmes after coming across her name in The Football Monthly and The Soccer Star.

But after Mr Flanner became blind at the age of 19, the two lost contact, and it was only when he was writing his book Beautiful Game, Beautiful Memories, that he recalled his correspondence with the Whites fan from Farnworth.

Mr Flanner said: “I used to write to Ruth but we had never met. We had swapped two or three programmes and her name stuck in my head because she was always advertising in the magazines, whereas most people would just put in an advert every so often.

“Everything was done by letter. There was no email and you used to wait for the post and run down to see if a letter had arrived.

“I wrote about her in the book, and asked what had happened to her. A friend took up the challenge and tracked her down through Google.” Bolton Wanderers stepped in to help reunite the two.

Mr Flanner said: “I rang her up and asked her to come to my book launch in May at Aston Villa but she couldn’t because she had a Bolton Wanderers match.

“When we first spoke she had to cut the conversation short because she was going to Brighton to watch the reserves!

“I thought I was a fan, but she is incredible. She has travelled the world watching Bolton Wanderers, the reserves and the youth team.”

He added: “It was amazing to meet her. She brought with her a 1907 Aston Villa against Bolton programme. It was too precious for her to part with it, but I would have loved someone to read it to me.

“She said she had about 30,000 programmes.”

In 2014, Mrs Crawshaw was awarded the George Warburton outstanding service award for supporting the club.

Mrs Crawshaw, aged 75, who lives in Bolton, said: “I vaguely remember John – 50 years is a long time in politics.”

She started collecting match programmes as a young girl and has been attending Bolton games since she was 15.

She added: “It was a surprise to find I had been mentioned in the book, which I am reading at the moment, and he has got my maiden name right, which many people didn’t. We are still in touch and will probably meet up at another football match.”

The book Beautiful Game, Beautiful Memories speaks about Mr Flanner’s passion for the sport, Aston Villa and the friendships he has made. He has been awarded an MBE for his inspirational work.

The book is available from Amazon or by 0121 603 9438 or emailing john@flanner.co.uk