The No. 7 Castle Hill Museum has a new curator who has a passion for history. Grizel Hart (54) started her new job in February. She was born in Grahamstown and has lived in the Eastern Cape for 30 years. Her husband, Hugh, was a farmer near Cathcart for many years. Grizel became involved in the town’s C.M. van Coller Museum and went on to head Stormburg Tourism, which covers the region from Hogsback to Sterkstroom, Molteno, Cathcart and Queenstown.
Grizel was a Copeland, descended from the British family who had ceramic factories in Stoke-on-Trent, and whose descendants co-founded Birch’s clothing stores in Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth. Hugh is a 6th generation descendant of Robert Hart, who went to the Eastern Cape prior to the 1820 British Settlers.
The Harts have spent the last four and a half years in Thornhill and then Jeffreys Bay, before moving to Port Elizabeth for Grizel's job. They live in a 1920s house in the historic suburb of Richmond Hill.
Another history fan is Jenny Bennie (58), who besides being responsible for the Port Elizabeth Museum’s cultural history collection, also curates Bayworld’s temporary and permanent exhibitions and oversees the running of both No. 7 Castle Hill and the Prince Alfred Guard Museum.
After moving from East London in 1974, Jenny joined the Port Elizabeth Historical Society committee and was invited to sit on the Advisory Committee of No 7. She took up her position at the Port Elizabeth Museum 6 years later, after being widowed with two small children. Her first love is the Maritime History collection. She is one of only three South Africans with a masters degree in maritime archeology.