Sidney James Mitchell (26 Jan 1926 - 3 Nov 2018)

In loving memory of Sidney James Mitchell who sadly passed away on 3rd November 2018.

Sid was born on the 26th January 1926 in Swindon, Wiltshire. A bright boy, he passed the 11+ and went to Grammar School. He left school at 16 and joined the Great Western Railway, to work in the finance department. War was raging around the world, and so at 18 he volunteered for the Royal Navy, where he trained in Electrical engineering, quickly achieving the rank of Petty Officer. It was only much later in his life that his family discovered he had been assigned to mine disposal.

After the war he went to work at Vickers Armstrong. His job was to wire up new Spitfires. It was here that he met Daphne who worked in the canteen. She came to his notice when she served him an extra large helping of semolina pudding, and a few years later they married. Two daughters came along in due course. Sid studied at night school to become a draughtsman and the family moved to Essex in 1964 when he was offered work as a car body designer with the Ford motor company. He retired in 1991 and lived in Rayleigh until after Daphne died, when he moved to a retirement flat in Rochford.

Sid was a man of many interests and had a keen brain. As a younger man he played a lot of sport, including soccer, table tennis and cross-country running. His real love, however, was for rugby, where he started as a Winger but ended up as a prop forward, thanks to the extra helpings of semolina pudding! When he retired from the game, he couldn't leave it totally so he trained as a referee instead. History and Archaeology was a great passion of his and he was a member of several Archaeological groups. With the Wickford Archaeology Society he took part in excavation work at a number of local digs. He enjoyed classical music, reading and painting.

He will be much missed by his daughters, sons-in law, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.