Friends and fans of an Irvine writer who tragically died last year hope to set up a memorial bench in the Harbourside.

Sandy Mulkeen, who’s father was Harbourmaster Captain Ralph Henderson, grew up in the town before going on to write two fantasy novels set in the Irvine of her youth.

Sandy, who worked for the BBC after university went on to write Beyond the Hedge and its sequel, Between Two Worlds under the pen name Mairi Craw.

Sadly, Sandy died aged 66 in December in Taurinya, France.

And family, friends and fans from across the world think it would be a fitting tribute to have a memorial to her in the place she loved, and always thought of as home.

Friend Patricia Heard said: “Her books are wonderful, part of the books are set in a fantasy world with fairies and talking animals but they were also set in Irvine, so the little girl travels between Irvine and this fantasy world.

“She went to University in Glasgow and then worked for the BBC. She lived in London, Dorset, then France, but she always considered Irvine as home, she would come back as often as she could for Marymass.

“We don’t want to push the council too much on an exact location, but someone in the harbour. She loved going down to the compass point, although I don’t think a bench would go that far down, but anywhere in the harbour, it’s where she loved to be.

“She’s got friends and fans all over the world and many have said they would love to come to Irvine to see some of the places she wrote about – particularly the harbour – and to have somewhere where they could go and pay their respects.

“It would be nice to have somewhere where people could go to remember her."

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “We will be in touch with Patricia directly to see if we can take the matter forward.

“We are happy to consider requests to install a memorial bench, or to affix a plaque to an existing bench and full details on how to go about this are available on our website.”