On 1st March 1996, Patricia’s husband Malcolm Campbell Irvine set off to sail his yacht “Mulberry” in the Solent. Sadly, he never returned. Whilst at sea, he suffered a major heart attack and died immediately. His devoted wife and young family never had the chance to say goodbye…

Patricia threw herself into the task of ‘keeping the ship steady’ for herself and her family. Life continued and she endeavoured to ensure that her children’s young lives were steadfastly kept on an even keel, as much as possible.

In 1999 Patricia found, that whilst trying to sleep at night, she was continually being woken in the early hours, by words coursing round and around in her head. It became so regular, that she placed pens and a pad beside her bed, learning quickly that if she sat and wrote down the words, sleep would finally come! All such jottings were kept…

This continued and later, she found it was also necessary to be accompanied by a pad and pen at all times. For whether she was walking in the country; driving along the motorway; at home or abroad, indeed, wherever she went, it became necessary for her to take these accompaniments and use them. It was the only way she found that she could clear her mind of the words channelled to her…

In 2004 she travelled to China to visit a relative and whilst there she was asked by him, to help record a book for the Sichuan University. At the end of the project, she wrote one of the poems in a photographic card and presented it to the producer. The producer, moved by the card, then asked Patricia if she had ever written children’s poetry and would she consider helping to produce a book of children’s verse? As a direct consequence of this, “The Mulberry Collection” book of children’s English poetry and Chinese translations was published in China in 2005.

Patricia had always been a keen photographer and found that the jottings she received struck the same type of chord within her, as did her photography. She decided to begin combining the words with some of the images that she had compiled over the years and consequently ~ The Mulberry Collection (words and images) was born.