Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Obituary: Ernie Mitchell, retired RGIT lecturer and Aberdeen Model Engineering Society chairman, 86

Ernie Mitchell, whose love of engineering started as a child listening to war planes fly over his home.
Ernie Mitchell, whose love of engineering started as a child listening to war planes fly over his home.

Joiner, university lecturer, chairman of Aberdeen Model Engineering Society, author, fiddle-player and family man Ernie Mitchell has died aged 86.

Early life

Ernest Mitchell – affectionately known as Ernie – was born in Strathdon on June 16 1936 to gardener James Mitchell and his wife Catherine.

A young Ernie Mitchell, back right, during his primary school days.

Brought up in Mar Lodge Estate and later Mintlaw, he would work with his dad when called upon. Treasured memories included helping his father rake the gravel at Balmoral for the Queen visiting.

After leaving school he went to work with Adam Ritchie where he served as an apprentice joiner.

However, a childhood fascination for nature especially newts and all things engineering-based saw him return to education.

A snap shot of Ernie Mitchell’s university days. He is front left alongside his class mates.

At Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh he studied engineering adding a teaching qualification too.

Falling in love

During teacher training Ernie met June Denholm from Aberdeen.

The young couple married on July 17 1964. June went on to teach at Beauly School while Ernie became a technical teacher for Inverness Academy.

Courting couple June Denholm and Ernie Mitchell.

Their daughter Heather was born in 1966, and son Calum in 1967. While Calum was still a baby the family relocated to Dundee where Ernie started work at the city’s technical college.

His career progressed and Ernie became a quantity surveying and building economics lecturer at Aberdeen’s Scott Sutherland School of Architecture (RGIT) which meant a move back to the Granite City.

Life in Aberdeen

The family moved into Leggart Crescent, then Viewfield Road but Ernie spent most of his life in the city’s Beechgrove Place.

In the mini digger he had always wanted, Ernie Mitchell of Aberdeen, in his home garage.

He returned to joinery on a self-employed basis in the 1990s after retiring from lecturing. His meticulous approach earned him a reputation for taking twice as long with an end result “twice as perfect”. Many of his customers became lifelong friends.

Later years

After 47 years of marriage June passed away in 2011. Learning to live on his own, Ernie kept working, took up new hobbies and and in recent years found companionship with his black Labrador, Mollie.

Ernie was natural with all animals and for many years he and his dog attended All Stars Dog Training at Cookney, and Ernie was often seen in his fluorescent jacket walking Mollie around Victoria Park.

Wearing his kilt, front left, is Ernie Mitchell and his fellow SCAT members.

Although he never learned as a child Ernie took up fiddle playing. Following in the footsteps of his band leader dad, he joined Scottish Culture and Tradition (SCAT) and enjoyed his time learning and playing each week.

Aberdeen Model Engineering Society

His love of engines never waned. He was the chairman of Aberdeen Model Engineering Society and still loved to attend the group’s meetings and exhibitions.

Ernie, on his Burrell traction engine with a trailer he converted from a disability scooter chassis.

He was also a digger fanatic, classic car collector and part of a Rolls Royce owners’ club.

A grandad to Gregor, Michael, Hollie and Lauren – who presents a radio show on Northsound – he was often his granddaughter’s on air go-to person if they had difficult questions to answer.

With his first Rolls Royce in the early 1990s, Aberdeen former university lecturer Ernie Mitchell.

Ernie was also part way through writing a children’s book when he died suddenly, but peacefully, at home on February 16. He was still working until the week before his death.

Calum Mitchell said: “My dad was a kind-hearted, caring and good-natured man. He was person family and friends would always go to, as he was always willing to give advice and guidance no matter what the ask was. His expertise goes with him and his loss will be felt by so many.”

A celebration of his life will take place at the West Chapel of Aberdeen Crematorium on Friday March 3 at 1.15pm.

Conversation