AN Ayrshire man has come across photographs and considerable information about a Cardenden soldier who died 100 years ago next week in the trenches.

Craig Wilson has come across the material about Private Alex McGregor, who was born in Cardenden and who was killed in action on October 10 1917.

Craig said: "My girlfriend's father, Dario Bianchini, salvaged photographs and medals from a house clearance many years ago.

"He was upset that the memory of a fallen soldier could be disregarded in this way. As such, he kept the framed photos and medals on his wall and even named his company after the soldier - in order that his name truly would 'live on'!

"Despite being a complete amateur, I managed to find out quite a lot of information about Private McGregor - including the name of his parents, occupation, address (Cardenden), regiment, date of death (and likely cause), burial place etc etc.

"Given that this week will mark the centenary of his death, we had hoped that we might find a descendent of Private McGregor and if they were interested, re-unite the medals with them. Alternatively, a local library or school might be interested in displaying them".

Alex was one of eight men of the McCrae's Regiment killed at Langemarck on October 10, and it was a battle group which contained a number of Heart of Midlothian footballers who also died in action.

Craig is very keen to hear from any of Alex's relatives or the library or school.