Perth angler and former policeman Kenneth MacMillan

An internationally-known Perth angler has died just three weeks before his 84th birthday.

Kenneth MacMillan represented Scotland in several fly-fishing international competitions and was a winner of the Silver Salver for heaviest fish caught in a match between the four home UK nations.

Born in London to a Royal Scots father in October 1932, Mr MacMillan was brought up in Crieff and initially trained as an upholsterer.

However, National Service with the 1st Battalion, The Black Watch, took him to frontline active service with United Nations forces in the Korean War, where he received battlefield promotion.

On leaving the army, in 1953 he joined the police initially in Blairgowrie and subsequently in Dunblane, Kinross, Stanley and latterly Perth where he retired. He served for more than 30 years receiving both long service and good conduct awards. He was highly regarded for his mentoring of young officers.

He had three enduring passions – his wife and family, his begonias and award-winning garden and his fishing.

Taught by his grandfather, Mr MacMillan was a fervent angler from the age of eight. His hobby took him to all corners of the UK as well as Canada and the US in pursuit, mainly, of salmon and trout.

He was also a highly skilled and much-admired fly-tyer co-founding the Stanley Flydressers’ Club and still dispensing innovative patterns and practical advice to new members each week as recently as this spring.

As its president, he was proud to celebrate the club’s 40th anniversary last March.

Friends, family and colleagues acknowledge his deep love of the countryside – he was also a keen shot – his open and inquiring mind and his razorsharp wit and dry humour, which caught many off-guard.

But it was his incomparable generosity of spirit for which he will be most widely remembered – whether it was dispensing his wealth of policing skills to new recruits or demonstrating some new and fiendishly complicated salmon fly pattern with a few deft strokes.

Mr MacMillan is survived by his wife of almost 60 years Mary, a son, two daughters and seven grandchildren.

Mr MacMillan.