Pam Wormser

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Early life
Pam was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and lived with her parents, Ruben and Clara Turnbull. She had two brothers, James and John. Her home in Boom Street in Pretoria was across the road from the Boer War Museum and the Pretoria Zoo.
Education
In high school, she was twice chosen to represent her school at the Durban Cultural Festival. Selected participants came from cities and towns throughout South Africa and for two weeks they attended cultural activities, such as theatre, art and music. Pam matriculated in 1953 in History, Art, English, Afrikaans, Maths and Science. In 1974 she joined the staff of the Trigonometrical Survey of South Africa, where she trained and then worked as a cartographer.
Marriage
Pam married Jens Wormser in 1956, moved to Cape Town and began a new life as a wife. She had three daughters; Karen, born in 1957, Theresa in 1959 and Pamela in 1964. They moved to Llandudno in July 1963, into an old house, the third house in Llandudno, but the first brick built house.
Career
Curator - Hout Bay Museum
In 1975, the chairman of Hout Bay Library Committee, Jimmy Steele, set up a committee to organise a Cultural Festival in Hout Bay and Pam was asked to represent Llandudno. Her portfolio on the committee was to set up exhibitions on ‘The History of Llandudno’, ‘Early man in Hout Bay’ and ‘Shipwrecks along our coastline’. The Festival was to run for one week and at the end of the week, all loaned items were returned to their owners.
The Festival was a great success and had proved that the people of Hout Bay and Llandudno had much to be proud of and to preserve. Jimmy Steele called a meeting to put forward the idea of creating a museum for Hout Bay and then a committee was formed of those interested. Pam was on that committee.
By 1978 the present building (the Hout Bay Museum), which had been standing empty, was cleaned and painted by the Lions Club and rented from the Kronendal School Board for a peppercorn rent of R1 per annum. A Board of Trustees was formed and Pam was appointed Curator in September 1978: she began work in an empty house without even a table or a chair.
Pam and Jimmy were able to attend a museum conference in Calvinia, which gave them invaluable information on accession and administration skills. Then began the work of collection and display of the many items from the original festival and the other items donated by local people. A child from Marais Road came in and gave Pam an old coin and that was her first exhibit.
There was need to organise a deadline for an opening date, to prove to the Divisional Council that the museum was a project worth supporting. The display cases were built by the Museum Workshop and Pam and the many volunteers and friends dedicated themselves to having Hout Bay Museum ready for the Official Opening on 5 April 1979.
For 19 years Pam dedicated her life to the growth of the Museum, with the Special Exhibitions, Open Days, Festivals, Celebrations, Camps, Guided Walks, Fireside Chats, Museum Conferences and Workshops becoming part of her family’s life. Pam retired in 1997 and moved to Noordhoek but, was asked to remain on the Board of Trustee and persuaded to work part time until the next Curator was appointed.
Books
* Veldkos, A Guide to the Useful Wild Plants Growing in the Hout Bay Museum Garden

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