A 96-YEAR-OLD has been presented with a replica of the gold medal he first won in an art competition more than 80 years ago.

Robert Hunter was a teenage school pupil at Vale of Leven Academy when he took the top prize in the Glasgow Museums Annual Art Competition and proudly took home his medal.

But a few years later, during the Second World War, when he served in light anti-aircraft, his precious medal, along with two bronze medals he won in the competition in previous years, were give away to boost the war effort.

Now, thanks to the efforts of grandson Steven Glennie and the rest of the family, Robert, who now lives in Kilmarnock, has a replica of the original medal.

"I'm thrilled to get my medal after all these years," said Robert, after being presented with the medal by Councillor Archie Graham, chairman of Glasgow Life in a ceremony at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery attended by friends and family.

"When I first had it I didn't want to lose it. I was afraid my mother would give it to the war effort."

He joked: "Some people thought the war would be over in no time at all, particularly if I gave up my gold medal."

He remembers as a boy getting the bus from his home in Alexandria to Partick on Saturday mornings to visit Kelvin Hall and Kelvingrove. A highlight was always drawing or painting the museum displays.

Robert's gold-medal winning entry of an elephant from 1933 was back on show yesterday, and Steven had a copy of the original newspaper cutting of Robert first winning his prize.

"This is something I've been thinking about for far too long. I thought, time is moving on, I really need to do something. Could we get a replica?," said Steven, 43, from Maybole.

"Then we realised Glasgow Museums are still doing the same competition, so my wife got in touch with Kelvingrove and it just took off from there.

"My Papa was delighted to come to Kelvingrove for the presentation, he was overwhelmed. We'll get the medal framed and put up on the wall at home for him."

He added: "He wanted to go to art school but then his elder sister won a silver medal in the art competition and she went to art school.

"His father told him, 'One artist in the family is enough'. So he went into the family business, which was laundry and worked in York for a while and all over Scotland."

Always a keen artist, Robert did get to show his work more than 20 years ago in Kilmarnock in a joint exhibition with Steven's wife Pam and her mother May Beattie, who are both artists.

"We found all these paintings in the attic and thought, let's get them framed and present them so people can see them," said Steven. "Nearly all of the work sold."

Friends of Glasgow Museums were pivotal in organising yesterday's presentation and getting the replica medal made for Robert.

"It has been lovely for everybody involved, and Mr Hunter does seem to be very pleased," said Liz Dent, chairman of Friends of Glasgow Museums.

"Some medals were not presented during the war years and a couple of years ago at the prize giving they had a special part of the ceremony where they presented medals to the people who hadn't got them. Jimmy Macgregor, the singer and broadcaster, was one of them."

The Glasgow Museums Annual Art Competition started in 1904 and is still running. The closing date for entries for 2015, from children between the ages of three and 18 who have visited a museum in the city, is May 31.

Cllr Archie Graham said he was delighted to present the replica medal to Robert and commented on the success of the partnership between Glasgow Life and Friends of Glasgow Museums.