Watson's Radio Club

Eulogy from Wireless Set No.19 Group

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It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of Alister Mitchell; as well as being a personal friend to many, he carried out a tremendous amount of work for the Group; obtaining documents, scanning and cleaning them and converting them to a suitable format. In addition he regularly processed scans carried out by others and submitted for inclusion in the Archive as well as providing detailed general support for the Group's on - line activities.

He had not been "active" as GM3UDL in the normal sense for many years; his radio interests lay in researching and understanding communications used by the Army, and in disseminating that acquired knowledge to a wider community.

He prepared several papers for publication both via the Wireless-Set-No19 Group and elsewhere, including a small book on Technology for Artillery Location 1914 - 1970, but copyright issues meant that it has not been made publicly available in printed form. It is, however, available as a download from the Group Archive.

At the time of his death (after the protracted deterioration of his health over more than 12 months) he was working on a study of BRUIN, and he made provision for it to be published posthumously. Some corrections (typographical rather than factual) will be required following proof reading and these will be carried out as soon as is practicable to make sure that the published version is something of which he would have justifiably been proud.
Mary - his wife - is very keen that the work he carried out on BRUIN should not be lost and is fully supportive of this undertaking.

We extend our deepest sympathies to Mary, Stephen and Susan (their son and daughter) for their loss. It is a loss that we share.

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               EULOGY FOR ALISTER MITCHELL BY CHRIS JONES, 28 December 2012 (Funeral)

 

We are here united in sorrow at the loss of a husband, father, father–in–law, brother–in–law, and friend. We each have our reasons for having liked and loved Alister and we will all miss him, and I am honoured that I have been asked to speak at his funeral.

 

Neither Alister nor I could remember when we first met, but we both thought that it was sometime around 1963; a long time ago even if we were a year or so adrift in our recollections. I suspect that there are perhaps one or two present who knew him from even prior to that. We shared an interest in radio and electronics compounded by our being members of our respective schools’ Combined Cadet Forces; he at George Watson’s College and I at Daniel Stewarts College, both in Edinburgh. It might even be that we met via a mutual friend who, I am pleased to say, is also with us today.

 

Sometime during late 1965 we discovered that unbeknownst to each another we had both applied to join the BBC as Technical Assistants; Alister started in January 1966 while I started in March of the same year. After 22 weeks’ training he was posted to the Transmitter Station at Kirk o’ Shotts, later transferring to Communications Department in Glasgow, and then moving into the IT side of the Corporation where he remained until 1994 when he left on redundancy, a fate which has befallen many who worked for the BBC. He then joined BSS, where he remained until deteriorating health forced him to take extended sick leave.

 

Throughout our lives we all find that friendships wax and wane, and to a certain extent that had happened between Alister and me, although the annual flow of Christmas cards was always maintained.  When I retired 6 years ago my friendship with Alister was one of those that I took pains to rekindle; as a consequence we spent many evenings pushing the generosity of fixed – price self – service Chinese buffets in Manchester to the limit when the requirements of work brought him to the north of England.

 

It was during one of those meetings that he told me about the Barrett’s’ Oesophagus from which he had been suffering for some time, and how it was a precursor condition to Oesophageal cancer. When I returned home that evening I did the usual thing and looked it up on the internet; what I found was very depressing. Oesophageal cancer is a condition that is proving very hard to treat.

 

The condition required him to have regular examinations by endoscope and it was during one of those in the autumn of 2011 that it was discovered that he had indeed developed the cancer.

 

Alister underwent sessions of chemotherapy at the Beatson Clinic in Glasgow with a view to the damaged part of his oesophagus being removed, but it was discovered when he was under anaesthetic and actually undergoing surgery that the cancer had invaded his trachea and that as a result the operation had to stop immediately; further surgical intervention  was not possible. Alister told me in an email that he was subsequently told that this discovery prompted some extremely strong language from the surgical team in the theatre; given the bad news that was imparted to him I doubt if the frustration of the surgical team provided much consolation.

 

He was then subjected to a round of combined radio and chemotherapy, which as we all know was to no lasting effect. During all this he and I kept up the flow of emails, and at no time did he exhibit anything other than a quiet fortitude; there was no sign of self pity and even on the two occasions earlier this year when I came up to visit him he showed no sign of the inner turmoil that must threaten to overwhelm anyone who is facing certain and possibly imminent death. At various times he was given weeks, or months to live, but it was clear that his own feeling was that he had much less time left on this earth than anyone else was willing to admit, and sadly so it was to prove. I can only describe his demeanour as both accepting and courageous; stoical is a little heard word these days but it its use to describe Alister is entirely appropriate.

 

We must pay tribute to the staff at the Beatson Clinic for the protracted care they gave Alister and the support afforded to Mary when she remained at his bedside for the final 2 or 3 weeks of his life.

 

Back in the 1960s Alister was a member of the Lothians Radio Society, enthusiastically participating in their field days and other activities. I am glad that the “Lothians” is represented here today, by fellow radio enthusiasts who knew Alister all those years ago. As time passed the demands of work and family responsibilities took primacy and active amateur radio involvement lessened; however his abiding interest in the subject of radio communications did not.

 

For the last few years he spent much of his leisure time sourcing and preparing documents relating to British Military communications for inclusion in an ever growing on – line archive. In addition he wrote several well researched articles for the same archive, one of which he also published privately. At the time of his death he was working on another military communications topic, again with a view to publishing in book form. At his request I and another of Alister’s friends in Holland will pick up the baton he left us and see his work through to publication. This will be done as a tribute to Alister, and has the full support of his family. He had already dedicated this second book in the same way as the first; I quote “This little book is dedicated to my wife Mary who has supported me through difficult times and has put up with the pile of research material which seemed to follow me round the house.”

 

When Alister was clearly terminally ill we prepared an obituary in readiness; when he died we published this obituary on the on – line Group with which he was heavily involved within a couple of hours; it was also published with a photograph as the front page of the associated Archive for which he did so much work. As a result messages of sympathy and support for the family have been received from places as far away as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, from individuals who while they never knew Alister personally recognised the loss that his passing would represent to his family and to the Group. I have prepared a printed copy of the Obituary, along with a distillation of the messages of sympathy and support and will give this to his family later today.

 

Last Sunday this eulogy was still very much a work in progress; while I was reading a newspaper the first short paragraph of an article written by the Most Very Reverend John Sentamu, Archbishop of York shone from the page as being appropriate for inclusion. It is to Alister that I read it now, with only the tense changed.

 

There will never be another you. There never has been. You were unique, right down to your fingerprints and your DNA. Your life made its matchless mark, and in a very real sense this planet wouldn’t be in the same place without you.

 

Mary; Susan; Stephen; Sam; Janet; Gordon; for you 2012 has been a dreadful year. 2013 is but a few days away; I hope that as the days lengthen, the occasional hint of sunshine breaks through the clouds, and spring brings new life to a dismal world, you will be able to look to a happier future; Alister would want that.

 

Alister; I valued the enduring friendship we forged in our youth – now I value the memory of it. I deeply regret your passing; some have lost a close family member; we have all lost a good friend, and we will all mourn.

 

It is with the greatest of sorrow and the heaviest of hearts that I must now bid you farewell.