February was a big month for Channel 7’s Peter Mitchell. The same week that the Frankston-born news presenter celebrated 30 years behind the desk, he and his wife, Philippa, welcomed their fourth grandchild.

Frankly Frankston Magazine caught up with Mitch and discovered that while the news game has changed, the thrill of presenting the news hasn’t.

“The adrenalin that you get from this job keeps you going,” he says. “I love breaking news, the thrill of it, and I think that’s what attracts viewers to what we do.”

Mitch joined Seven in 1988 as Melbourne’s weekend newsreader and has delivered virtually every major news event, good and bad, since then.

“The big ones over the journey include the Black Saturday bushfires (2009) and the Bourke St tragedy (2017),” he recalls. “We went to Beaconsfield (in 2006) and did the news in front of the mine for a week. That was very memorable, as was 9/11 and the death of Princess Diana.

“It was early on the Sunday and I was told Dodi Fayed had died and Diana was in hospital. I was told I better head in because they were going with the updates on it. By the time I got in the news came through that she had died.”

On a lighter note, he enjoys the occasional laugh on set with colleague Tim Watson, he loves a game of golf, and of course he and his family enjoy the Peninsula’s food and wine scene. “We enjoy the Royal Hotel in Mornington, D.O.C in Main St and we visit wineries, that sort of thing. We want to try Point Leo Estate and Jackalope. We also love The Rocks - you can’t beat that.”