AN appeal is being made by Kelly Reynolds for any information about the military career of her late grandfather Bill Edwards, who ran a hardware shop in Marlborough.

Mrs Reynolds, 25, helps her parents David and Heather Wheeler run The Barleycorn public house, formerly The Cleaver, in Collingbourne Kingston.

She is compiling her family history and although she has been able to trace the roots of her mother's family back to the late 1700s, she has scant information about her late grandfather's military service.

She has a photograph of Mr Edwards, who died in 1974, in Army uniform at his wedding in November 1941 when he was a sergeant.

Mrs Reynolds said she would like to apply to the Army for a copy of its record of her grandfather's military career but needs more information about him.

She said: "We can apply to the Ministry of Defence for a copy of his Army record but we need to know which regiment he was in, his service number and the date he was demobbed."

Mrs Reynolds said her mother had been told little about Mr Edwards' military service and the family believed he joined up either at or shortly after the start of the Second World War. She said: "It's possible there will be people alive still who remember him and who may even have served with him."

Mr Edwards was apprenticed to Ledbury builders in Marlborough as a painter-decorator but later opened a hardware shop which he and his late wife Betty, who died in 1991, ran with the help of their family.

Mrs Reynolds said: "I would love to hear from anyone who knew him, especially anyone who served with him and who could tell me any details about his Army service, where he was stationed and what he did."

Mrs Reynolds can be contacted at The Barleycorn on (01264) 850368.