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Patricia (Pat) is a daughter of William (Bill) Mitchell and Margaret Elsie Mitchell nee Hedley.
Her father Bill was born in Wanlockhead, Dumfriesshire, at 1531 feet the highest village above sea-level in Scotland. Some of the village is named after the family eg. Mitchell Place. (When Robert Burns was in Wanlockhead and his horse needed the services of the mining company blacksmith, he paid for the work in verse with this poem 'Pegasus at Wanlockhead' in 1789.)
Whilst many of the Mitchell family of Wanlockhead managed and worked at leadmining there, her late father was a soldier and served in the King's Own Scottish Borders Regiment.
She married David Ayre in 1974, and they moved permanently to Scotland in late 1978.
Pat passed the Advanced Driving Test in early 1978 and become a Member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists; she owned a BMW 2002 sports coupe at that time.
After the untimely death of two of her beloved Siamese cats, she became known as the fund-raising costumed 'Catwoman' and with school children she raised money for feline leukaemia.
When her husband's career was established, Pat decided on a career in nursing in the NHS and became an Enrolled Nurse. Her training took place in Kirkwall, Orkney, and she enjoyed nursing until retiring in 2002, after which she worked part-time at the Orkney Tourist Board.
During this time her personal cars were a Lotus Elite 502, a Lancia HPE, and a red Porsche 944 with her personal registration J100PAT.
Living in a rural community, Pat was a member of the local Scottish Women's Rural Institute. In 1990 the SWRI launched a national 'Woman Driver of the Year' competition. The first event, held at locations nation-wide, was an 'economy drive' , and by achieving a winning 58.3 miles on a gallon of petrol she represented the Orkney Islands in the second heat.
The second event, in Inverness competing for the title 'North of Scotland Woman Driver 1990' involved roadcraft under an IAM examiner and maneouvering against the clock. Having beaten thirty contestants she was declared 'The Best Female Driver in the North'.
Her last car was a true 150mph sports car, a Porsche 944 S2 cabrio, rare in Rubystone Red. This high-performance car inspired her to test it on the track with other Porsches at Cadwell Park where it fulfilled all of her expectations and gave a few of the 911s something to chase!
Pat enjoys keeping fit, and runs in sponsored events. Apart from many half-marathons (twice in the Great North Run) she ran the Edinburgh Marathon in 2000 for charity. She has run for Alzhiemer's, Breast Cancer Research, Sea Scouts, and the Macmillan Unit.
A recent personal undertaking was walking Scotland's West Highland Way in 2006 .
As with all things, anno domini must be considered, and on retirement her Porsche was sold and a motorhome has taken it's place for life at a slower pace - but still behind the wheel and in control!
To brighten the page a few photographs from around the world are shown below.
The Baroness of Kilmarnock
The Baroness as Catwoman
Porsche 944 S2 cabrio
The RV at Sandringham
 Cruise to Hawaii |
 San Francisco |
 Australia |
 At home |
 Miami |
 Athens |
 Sharm El-Shaikh |
 Japan |
 Mumbai hotel |
 Egypt |
 Thailand (Hua Hin) |
 New York |