HELPFUL Advertiser readers have been praised by an Australian man for their outstanding response to a heritage appeal.

Scores of readers have provided helpful information after Malcolm Syme contacted the Advertiser to ask for help in identifying people and buildings from two old photographs he had in his possession.

One read “Uncle John, game keeper, big estate” and the other simply read “Dow, Butcher Alloa.”

Scores of replies from Wee County residents have helped provide insight to the Syme family heritage since the appeal was published last week.

The first submission was sent in by Dan Gooch, who matched the house to the property at 26 Ludgate and tracked the gamekeeper to John Marshall Syme, born in Clackmannan in 1869.

Gooch went on to explain that Dow referred to William Dow, who owned a butcher’s shop on Mill Street.

Dow died in 1934 and Gooch speculates that he lived in the property on Ludgate.

Dan said: “Hopefully, it’ll help Malcolm out and it will help him track down the his family history and piece together a mystery too.

“I have to say, it was a lot of fun and satisfying to find what I did.

"Online archives can be brilliant… bit of a rabbit hole, though, and you can spend hours looking at all the old stuff.”

A second submission came in from Catriona Syme, who provided further information on Malcolm’s great-uncle John.

Catriona said her husband is a Syme and that John Syme was her husband’s great-great-great-grandfather’s brother.

On hearing of the response from readers, Malcolm was overwhelmed with praise for the help he has received.

“I think it is really marvellous what you have all come up with,” Malcolm said. “It really is.

“I sincerely thank you for the help you have afforded to me in my endeavours to gain information about these two old photos.

“Thank you to the Advertiser and to all those Alloa folk who replied.”

Anyone with any further information can email their findings to editorial@alloaadvertiser.co.uk.