A LEGENDARY Ayr youth leader has turned 80 - with no signs of slowing down.

Lieutenant (SCC) Bill Mullin RNR's big day came after nearly 40 years service with the Sea Cadets.

Over the decades, Bill has led and trained generations of local youngsters with the organisation.

The father-of-two and grandfather of four was himself a Sea Cadet before joining the Royal Navy as a stores accountant in 1960.

He served in the Far East and worldwide as a submariner, when he was based at Faslane, before leaving the Navy in 1970.

Bill, who celebrated his birthday with his family on Sunday (April 9), said: "I went back to the cadets in 1984 at my wife Isobel's suggestion and offered my services for a couple of nights a month - and suddenly found myself a sub-lieutenant.

"I was an instructor at th eAyr unit, then in 1985-86 I was asked to go to the Irvine unit as commanding officer, as it was under threat of closure.

"Irvine only had four cadets and two officers but we managed to turn it around quite quickly and we had 20 cadets within a couple of months."

Bill commanded the Irvine unit until 1995, and also ran the Sea Cadets national engineering school at HMS Gannet in Prestwick full-time for nine years.

He then returned to the Ayr unit, TS Mountbatten, where he was commanding officer from 2011-15, before going back to the Irvine unit - TS Argyll, located in Dreghorn, where he is currently an instructor.

Bill, who retired officially as Scottish sales manager for AA Publishing at 65 but worked on to 76, has met dignitaries and many royals over the years including the late Queen Elizabeth and King Charles.

He used his connections to fix up fun activities for the cadets, such as flights in Royal Navy helicopters and sea trips on the Royal Yacht Britannia and the frigate HMS Argyll, which Bill affiliated with Irvine Sea Cadets.

Bill said: "I've thoroughly enjoyed my time as an instructor and commanding officer with the Sea Cadets.

"One of the nicest things has been to meet former cadets who remember me and have brought their own kids and even grandkids to join.

"It's such a worthwhile organisation and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who would like to make a difference to young people's lives."

Captain Neil Downing, Captain of the Sea Cadets, congratulated Bill on his birthday and wrote: "The impact that you have had in many roles has been immense and I hope that you will continue to make a difference in the lives of our young people for many years to come."