The poetry of Pam Crowther
Pam and Rian
I was born in Marandellas in 1957, youngest daughter to Les (Chippy) and Mavis Haworth and raised at Peterhouse, educated at Bishopslea until 1969 when we moved to Umtali.
Umtali Girls High and the watchful eye of "Drac" Miss Clark - who could forget "Drac" - (and those darn sausage dogs - worse than the Queen and her Corgis!)
guided me through my teenage years.
I joined the B.S.A.P. in 1976 after completing "O" levels. Sheelah Needham, my squad instructor achieved the impossible - motivating me from couch potato to super fit distance runner ! Thank you so much Sheelah!
Moving on to the corporate world, Beverley Building Society and Boart Zimbabwe until 1983 when my husband, Vernon (and teenage sweetheart) and I made the choice to leave Africa and start a new life for a new generation.
The Zimbabwean Government was none too generous with their monetary support of our cause and we arrived a year later in Australia with $Z500 (Aus$462.18) to
our name, no family, no job, no plans for tomorrow! We had our suitcases, our courage, sense of humour and sense of adventure. Trust me the sense of humour was essential - Hobart airport on a rainy night and no taxis is a pretty bleak prospect! Within a week we had rented a furnished flat and were both employed. A move to Queensland from the cold yet wonderfully friendly Tasmania some nine months later gave us the opportunity to start our own Engineering Patternmaking business, which progressed into a Foundry two years ago. We sold our business earlier this year and merged with a large marine engineering firm in Brisbane.
I have a daughter Lisa-May and son Rian, both born and bred Australians.
Plans and dreams for the future? To retire in a couple of years and live on our acerage at Dayboro (just outside Brisbane) and finish the novel I have started to write........... advice my daughter gave me - Believe in Your Dreams!