A LIFELONG Dunfermline Athletic fan from Lochgelly was surprised by a familiar face at a veterans meeting earlier this month.

Army veteran Willie Allan was recently reunited with his childhood neighbour, Fife Provost Jim Leishman at the reunion event.

Support worker Robert Holland organised the visit as a surprise - but got a shock himself when he found out that the pair had grown up together in Lochgelly.

“I contacted Jim through the football,” he said.

“And it turned out they knew each other! They grew up in the same street - Willie’s brother had actually played football with him.”

The Dunfermline Central councillor attended a veterans breakfast in Leuchars on May 3 where he presented Willie with an image of the two of them taken at his house from a previous meeting.

The monthly meeting organised by Legion Scotland brings together ex-armed forces members - including those involved in their Forgotten Forces programme, which provides support to older veterans.

“He had a good rant about the football and everyone was really interested in his recent trip to Poland taking donations, “ Robert continued.

“It was surprising because Willie’s daughter was there and I was there, he heard Jim coming in and asked who it was - we said ‘Nobody’.

“When he came in he just went, ‘What are you doing here, Jimmy?’ “He had all his old football programmes with him and gave them over, Jim said he would give any money back to him but he said no, it should be given back to the club.”

Willie, who now lives on Blacklaw Road, Dunfermline, relies on an 24-hour oxygen has been a Pars supporter since 1952 and served in the army for just a few years before being medically discharged.