A memorial plaque to a long-serving council engineer is to be installed on his favourite bridge.
John Morrison died last November aged 54, after devoting most of his working life to maintaining Aberdeenshire’s river crossings.
Now colleagues hope to mark the anniversary with a permanent tribute at Invercauld Bridge near Braemar.
Mr Morrison, who lived in Belhelvie, singled out the picturesque Grade-B listed structure when he appeared on a national radio show.
Principal bridge maintenance engineer Graham Lee, who worked alongside him for a decade, said Mr Morrison was “a dedicated, much-liked and hard-working engineer” based in Stonehaven.
He was “quite a character” whose loss was felt by the team, who miss the occasional “prize gems” he would come out with.
Many colleagues attended his funeral in Lanarkshire, where the Aberdeenshire-born engineer moved with his parents as a child.
He had suffered heart problems since adolescence.
Mr Lee said: “I believe it was on John’s 50th birthday in 2011 that one of his sisters arranged for him to be the ‘Jolly Good
Fellow’ on Vanessa Feltz’s early morning show on BBC Radio 2.
“During the course of the on-air conversation John was asked his occupation and when he replied that he was a bridge engineer, Vanessa asked him what his favourite bridge was.
“After a moment’s thought John chose Invercauld Bridge.”
The plaque – which requires permission from national heritage chiefs – will be visible from a riverbank popular with fishermen and walkers.
The bridge was built in 1752 to carry the military road that led north to Corgarff Castle and Ruthven Barracks over the River Dee.
It was made famous in 1981 when the newlywed Duke of Rothesay and Diana, Princess of Wales posed by it during their Balmoral honeymoon.
It is considered of “national importance as one of the best examples of this important class of bridge” and has “a place in national history as part of the first coherent road network to cover the northern part of the country”.