A COUNCIL candidate who sought the Herald’s help in his quest to follow the trail of an ex-pat author has received a fascinating lead.

As the Herald reported last week, Robert Barr’s mission to follow the trail of Arthur Alan ‘Dalry’ Wilson led him Down Under.

The Herald has since received a letter from a Suzanne McLean in Leicestershire, whose grandmother was the sister of Dalry Wilson.

She owns two books written by her great-uncle: a 1916 edition of Wilson’s Lay, Tales and Folklore of the Mines and a copy of the book that Mr Barr was trying to trace. Sadly though, she said that Wilson’s early poems and stories were destroyed in a fire in 1914.

Mr Barr was delighted about the letter and plans to get in touch with Mrs McLean soon. He said: “That’s smashing. It’s a very small world.”

But there was another surprise to come out of our article, as he revealed: “There’s now a copy of the book I was trying to find on it’s way to me!”