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…’