DV Mitchell

As my father’s son (Philip Mitchell), his passing at the age of 89 (Donald Victor Mitchell 1933-2022) was tragic but inevitable, and he died a legend passing on an inheritance of his varied stories, for children and young adults, from crime thrillers, romance, sci-fi to historical set novels, most of which he asserts came from his mother’s imagination, drawn from his experiences, and Scottish heritage. He said about this - “My Mother was a good storyteller. I was particularly intrigued when she spoke of her own school days and the strict Victorian type teachers. Her father was also strict, but she and her five sisters still found ways to get up to all sorts of mischief, like climbing down a ladder from their bedroom, with the aid of boyfriends. I suspect she enhanced these escapades somewhat. I told her I would write it down someday and have it published. At school I was reasonably good at English grammar & took part in writing articles for the schoolbooks that was part of the curriculum in these days. One particular teacher (Miss Sharp) would end lessons at twenty-to-four and read a chapter of classic books - my favourite being Kidnapped - stirring within me the desire to write such like stories”. He took early retirement and devoted his time to writing poems, songs, and short stories. As a joiner by trade, he would write ideas on scraps of wood, and work on his stories during his spare time. Through-out his lifetime he sought and hoped to publish his stories with no great success. Now in our early twenty-first century it is easier to publish. Here is the first of these posthumous publications ‘Laird of Clanmere’ by Donald Victor Mitchell, forwarded in remembrance by his loving family, with illustrations by his artist daughter Miss Helen Mitchell, and typesetting by Philip Mitchell, his oldest daughter Irene born learning difficulties, his other daughter Diane and his wife of sixty-four years, Margaret, four children, six grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.