A Spanish woman who has endured a painstaking 15-year search for her uncle who moved to Ayr in the 1940s is appealing to locals for help in locating her long lost family.

José Cordon was born in Benalúa de las Villas in the Andalusian city of Granada in 1917.

In 1948, he left the south of Spain to embark on a new life in Ayr, where he married a Scottish woman and had two or three children.

There, José worked as a school bus driver, but made no further contact with his family in Granada.

Now his niece, Pilar Cordon, is hoping residents may have information on her uncle as she pursues the search in memory of her father, Francisco Cordon Cordon, who passed away without having seen his brother since he was a child.

Ayr Advertiser: Her dad Francisco died without ever knowing his brother.Her dad Francisco died without ever knowing his brother.

Pilar said: “He left his village for Bordeaux in France and then in 1948 he went to Ayr.

“His mother was called Leonor Cordon and his father was called Juan Cordon.

“We think that my uncle changed his name but I haven’t been able to find anything else and I don’t know where I’d find it if he did register with another name. I’ve spent 15 years looking for him. My father was his brother and he’s not heard anything from him since he last saw him when he was 11 years old.

“My father would have loved to have found him or one of his children before he died but he couldn’t find any trace of him.

“He died eight years ago and I feel like I need to find them now, even if my father couldn’t.”

Unfortunately Pilar, who now lives in Barcelona, does not have a photo of her estranged uncle, but assumes he will have passed away by now.

In any case, she is eager to reconnect with her Spanish/Scottish cousins.

If you have any information, please contact pili889@hotmail.com