For more information follow the link below
About us
The Mountain Club of South Africa (MCSA), Worcester Section, was founded in 1893 in Worcester, and is the only mountain club in Africa that is affiliated to the world mountaineering body, The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme) (UIAA) https://www.theuiaa.
The MCSA is divided into 14 geographical sections and owns a multitude of pristine mountain huts and nature-area properties across South Africa.
Click on OTHER SECTIONS for more information about them.
Our Objectives
The objectives of the MCSA Worcester Section are to:
- Organise hiking and climbing expeditions or outings
- Take necessary steps to promote the safety of walkers and mountaineers and to take part in search and rescue activities
- Procure access rights to mountain and wilderness areas and to expand and protect these
- To protect the country's natural beauty and its water supplies
- To promote mountaineering and hiking activity in South Africa and elsewhere.
How to join
If you want to join our club, please send an email to our secretary at admin@mcsaworcester.org.za and ask for the latest climbing programme and ask that your name be put on our mailing list.
We will also require a CV of your hiking experience.
The criteria for becoming a member is: you must undertake at least three (3) official Section meets, plus one (1) official work-weekend at Thomas Hut, with the understanding that the Committee may make an exception to this rule in deserving cases.
Committee
Gerald van Zyl
Vice Chairperson
073 481 1611
Helen van Zyl
Secretary
082 562 7184
Jaco Keller
Treasurer
072 348 2000
Erika van Niekerk
Hut Convenor - Thomas Hut
072 342 9224
Hendrik van Zyl
Convenor for Hike Meets
0823251230 (WhatsApp)
Marthinus Steyn
Conservation
079 867 6469
Mari Neethling
Outreach
079 897 0377
Suzanne vd Merwe
Social Media
083 610 1277
Gerald van Zyl
Events & Socials
073 481 1611
Johan vd Merwe
Additional Member
079 443 6935
History
History of MCSA Worcester (Compiled by information gathered from The Mountain Club Journal written by Irene Lincoln and Tom Jourdan)
1893: The Worcester Section of the MCSA is formally established with 28 members on 5 June, roughly 20 months after the establishment of The Mountain Club in Cape Town. Its application for affiliation to The Mountain Club necessitates the latter to change its constitution to allow for the establishment of the Mountain Club of South Africa. The Vice-President for Worcester was J.N.P. de Villiers (The President was the president of the Cape Town section). Other members were: Izak Meiring (Sectretary), W. Harris (Treasurer), Hon. J.D. Hugo, C.H. Beck, J.J. Perkins and Dr. Hugo. Izak Meiring, partner in the pharmacy Meiring and Quenet, and later land surveyor, is instrumental in the formation of the Worcester Section and is the backbone of the Section during its early years, serving on the Worcester Section committee as honorary secretary for many years. 'Ever since the first meeting of the section the meetings have been held in the schoolroom ...'.
1894: Membership is 68. Prominent names on the committee include Besselaar, de la Bat, Beck, de Villiers, and de Wet while lady members include misses Beck, Hauptfleisch, Herskin, four Hugo's, Pallas, Perkins, Von Ludwig and Mrs Borchard.
1895: A magic lantern and slides for `exibitions' are acquired to make the poorly attended monthly gatherings more attractive. The first MCSA Gold Badge is awarded to Izak Meiring. By this time Meiring had deter-mined the heights of many of the Worcester District Mountain peaks. The Gold Badge of the Club to members who have significantly furthered the cause of mountaineering and the Objects of the Club in several aspects over a significant period of time.
1898: Meiring reports membership at ‘about 80, a great portion of which are ladies’. Queen Victoria Peak is also recorded as formerly known as Horlogieberg.
1899: Despite the membership still being about 80, Meiring curiously reports that 'This section is not dead - but sleepeth…'
1901-02: Membership is still around 80. 'The secretary reports that this section has not yet been resuscitated, but it is hoped ...'
1903-10: Eight years of silence reigns with no Worcester Section annual reports being submitted for the MCSA Journal. Although a quiet time for the club, many private climbs were done.
1906: Thomas G Field buys the 'Worcester Standard Steam Printing works' and brings his family to Worcester
1911: A 'deputation' is sent to Worcester by the Cape Town Section to 'stim-ulate local interest' at a meeting, chaired by the mayor, in the CJV Hall. The subsequent annual report is positive and reports a member-ship of 34 with Ben Eybers, Paul Roos and artist and later Scoutmaster Hugo Naude among them.
1912: The longest annual report to date appears in the Journal. A party of 42 climbs Keeromsberg.
1913: A party of 53 attends the Rabiesberg meet. Izak Meiring serves as President of the MCSA.
1914: Three more teachers, Misses Melck, Deas and Miemie de Villiers join the Section. The annual report laments that 'men are indispensable on the rugby field, so no mountaineering'.
1915: Izak Meiring inspires Eddie Pells, still a schoolboy, to join the Worcester Section.
1917: Izak Meiring dies. Meiring Plateau, previously known as Brandwag Plateau, is named after him and a memorial plaque was later erected on the plateau.
1918: Stanley Field, as a Worcester schoolboy, is already active in the Worcester Mountains.
1920: Arthur Field, Stanley's elder brother, buys the Worcester Standard from their father. The Worcester Section enjoys regular press coverage of route descriptions and Section outings.
1923-25: Eddie Pells and Stanley Field, now students at UCT, spend their university vacations systematically exploring the Worcester District mountains. The name Disa Dell is attributed to them.
1925: The booklet A Mountaineer's Paradise, co-authored by Pells and Stanley Field is published by 'Mr. A. N. Field, Managing Director of the Worcester Standard Electric Press' under 'the Auspices of the Mountain Club of S.A.' The latest reprint of this booklet was done in 2018 as part of the 125 year celebration of the Worcester club.
1926: Arthur Field takes to mountaineering and, with a few friends, resuscitates the Worcester section 'which had petered out'. Good use is made of his brother's booklet.
1927: A good snowfall lures Pells, Arthur Field, Mr EW McL Thomas, two Norwegian skiers and 'a small party of Worcester mountaineers' to experience skiing on Fonteintjiesberg. The Ski Club of South Africa is promptly formed in the Disa Dell cave on the same weekend, and is affiliated to the Worcester Section of the MCSA. The idea of a mountain hut is also mooted and a sub-committee comprising messrs AN Field (Chairman), MZ Brown (Secretary,) L Cronwright, W Hall and Leland Bybee is tasked to push the but project.
1930: The Worcester Municipality, Worcester Section and members of the public jointly finance the construction of a track to Fairy Glen and a donkey path to Disa Dell. Boys' High School principal, Ben Eybers, and Girls' High School teacher, Miss T Katz, both members of the Worcester Section, organise 150 boys and 50 girls respectively to carry roof and floor materials to Disa Dell. The Disa Dell Hut is completed in October 1930.
1931: The hut is inaugurated on 7 August. An impressed Mr McL Thomas changes his building loan to a donation to the Section and the hut is duly renamed the Thomas Hut. Some of the outings taken on by members in this year: M. Brown, C & T Sparks and A.N Field once left the Ceres Valley at 02:45, climbed Buffelshoek Peak an hour later, crossed Sentinel and Mt. Brodie, Horseshoe and Fonteintjiesberg and reached Worcester at 18:00! Misses Henkel and Duckitt were the first ladies to cross from Worcester to Ceres over the Peaks of Devide… and in the snow!
1935: Leland Bybee became the chairman of the Worcester section but left shortly after for active service, as did many others. The Section was kept alive by George Jourdan.
In the early days the subscription fee was a mere shilling (roughly 10 cents). In the late forties when equipment was scarce, a homemade rucksack, sleeping bag and groundsheet could each be hired for 6d (5 cents) a night. There was a time when klinker boots could be bought for 63 shillings. Mountaineering attire was vastly different: Men wore knickerbockers (baggy-kneed trousers), while women wore long dresses, hats and scarves.
One cannot but wonder how mountaineering in the Worcester Section will change in the future.
Disclaimer: Mountain climbing has its risks. All who join in Mountain Club outings or use information from this website do so entirely at their own risk.
