AFTER BRINGING his local knowledge and expertise of the Pitlochry area to The Courier for over 40 years, John Brydone has put pen to notepad for the last time.

Mr Brydone (77) has worked as local correspondent since 1964, after taking over from John Fisher.

Born and bred in the area, Mr Brydone was educated at Breadalbane Academy.

His first job was in the offices of Wimpey as it built Pitlochry dam.

He spent time in the army, working as shorthand writer for Field Marshall Montgomery’s chief of staff in 1948 and 1949.

He returned to Pitlochry and the dam until its completion. He also worked for Scottish Hydro-Electric and Macnaughton’s.

A keen junior golfer, he won the Scottish Boys Championship in 1947.

He became chairman of the Boys’ Championship Committee, with luminaries such as Colin Montgomerie going through his books.

He was secretary of Pitlochry Golf Week for 27 years and of the Highland Golf Tournament for decades and represented Perth and Kinross in the Scottish Golf Union for 10 years.

He also played for the county from 1950 to 1997, serving two terms as president and was secretary of Pitlochry Golf Club for 32 years, until 1992.

Since 1961, he has been taking a team to Edinburgh to compete in the Queen Elizabeth Schools Trophy, winning it at the 40th try in 2000, then in 2003.

He has been married to Margaret for over 40 years.