Remarkable Kilwinning man Bill Despard has collected another silver medal at the World Masters Weightlifting Championship in Poland - at the age of 88.

And he said: "I'll be back next year and this time I'm going to get the gold."

Bill can lay claim to being Scotland's oldest-ever competitive weightlfter after his silver medal win in the 81kg category.

He has run the Kilwinning Olympic Weightlifting Club for more than 20 years and shows no signs of giving up his career - despite getting a new hip two years ago.

It wasn't the first health scare he has suffered. In fact, the first was what led him to take up weightlifting.

Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: Bill Despard

Bill revealed: "I took up weightlifting in 1950, when I was 15. I was an apprentice plumber and I had been doing body building.

"But I got cancer and had my right breast taken away and I knew I couldn't continue with that.

"So I went to a club in Motherwell and spoke to them about taking up weightlifting then asked to join - and that was that."

Now he's coaching some youngsters he firmly believes could be champions some day.

He revealed: “I love the sport. It’s been good to me physically.

“I just feel that if I can get kids off the streets and teach them an Olympic sport, and help them get out of difficulties, that would be great.

“We had loads of members but Covid killed us. We’ve got 14 members at the moment and we are just in the process of moving to new premises.

“I don’t care if they’re 100-years-old, anyone can join in."

“I don’t make any money out of it, I’ve been paid once in my life when I was in Japan and I refereed and they gave me 300 dollars. I’ve never made a penny out of it.

“It’s my life, it’s everything I know in life.”