IT’S surprising what you can find in a skip!

Amongst the old mattresses, rusty bicycles, battered books, headless dolls, and Samsung mobiles, there might just be a gem or two worth salvaging.

One man’s rubbish is another man’s gold or at least a slice of Abergavenny's sporting history.

Check out this old black and white photo from times past, or at least possibly the 1950s or 60s.

It was saved from the ignoble fate of ending up in a landfill a few years ago by Mardy AFC’s Malcolm ‘Macky’ Skinner.

Macky told the Chronicle, “It was given to me by a chap who saw it lying in a skip one day. It had just been thrown in with the rubble and a whole lot of other tat. He could see it was a professional photo and one that had once taken pride of place in a frame in some clubhouse, so he whipped it from there and gave it to me to see if I knew anything about it.”

As a man who has been involved in grassroots football for over 60 years, Macky is your man. Serving six years at any one football club is a big ask for your modern footballer, but try serving six decades! Macky has and his dedication as seen him undertake every possible role within the club.

Ten years ago he picked up the prestigious Welsh Community Football Award for time served. This year he’s decided to finally bow out, but he’s still the go-to man for any local footballing history problem that needs solving.

Yet as he told the Chronicle, he’s come to a bit of a dead end with this photo, other than he believes it to be the short-lived Abergavenny Amateurs FC outfit, who obviously won some silverware during their time together.

Macky explained, “I recognise a few faces in the photo such as Derek Meadows, Johnny Neil, Derek Fitzpatrick, and one of the Fury boys, but other than that I’m drawing a bit of a blank.”

Maybe you lot can help?

From the skip to the prime pages of the local rag. Opportunity knocks for this gang of likely lads who had no idea when this photo was taken where it would one day lead.

Here’s what it would have looked like in colour, kind of.

And just like any rag doll plucked from the rubbish pile and saved from a state of decay in the kingdom of tat, this photo deserves a little makeover. So here’s what AI did to the pic when asked to enhance it.

Weird and wonderful at the same time isn’t it?

Macky added, “Like I said I’ve had the photo for a while back but I feel it deserves to be hung somewhere in pride of place again rather than rolled up in a corner of my house. So if anyone out there has somewhere they feel it rightfully belongs, get in touch.”

If you’ve got any stories to add to the tale behind this old photo, let’s hear them!