Harpers’ community spirit
• Tom and Pam Harper of Bridport.
By Daisy Baker
October 30, 2019
Bridport’s Pam and Tom Harper have been a central part of many local community groups for the past 50 years and while they’re now both retired, they’re still giving back.
Tom is a founding member of what was the Rough Riders’ association which built Santarena Park.
Pam was the secretary of the Rodeo Club for 25 years and the secretary of the North East Art and Craft exhibition, which she helped initiate, for 30 years.
The Harpers still both work for Sea View Village in Bridport.
The couple have been married for almost 55 years, during which time, Pam says they have always worked together.
In 1999 Pam was awarded Dorset Citizen of the Year which she says she couldn’t have achieved on her own.
“I’ve always considered that it wasn’t just me – I couldn’t have done it without Tom,” she says.
“It’s very much about the teamwork and always has been.”
After receiving the award, Pam was nominated by the Council to serve as a Justice of the Peace and she still continues this work.
They live in Pam’s childhood home, which is surrounded by a flourishing garden.
“When my parents moved here, the bracken ferns were up to the veranda rail,” Pam explains.
“My mum and dad started developing the family plot here and Tom and I have just continued it because gardening has always been both of our loves.”
They sell their fresh vegetables, berries and eggs at a roadside stall.
Tom grew up in Ringarooma and spent most of his working life at the butter factory in Legerwood.
He did several stints on the mainland, driving trucks and dozers.
Pam, who trained as a nurse at the LGH, accompanied him on one of these trips and they lived and worked in South Australia for almost two years.
After watching several of his work mates from the butter factory decline health-wise once they retired, Tom decided it was time to adopt a hobby.
“They were plenty capable of working a 40-hour week and within 12-18 months they were stooped old men and I decided that if that’s what retirement was, I was never going to retire,” he explained.
“I had to have something to take up that space.
“It would be 40 odd years ago that I started turning, making lamps, souvenirs and bits and pieces for furniture which we sold at the Deloraine Craft Fair for 30 years.”
Until recently, Tom had also been making souvenirs for the Australian Way, which were sold throughout the East Coast.
Now Tom turns for his own enjoyment and his creations are sold at the Pavillion in Bridport.
“He does it for his own enjoyment so he tries to keep the costs down to the shop because the money that the shop makes is used for the township of Bridport so it’s one little thing he can do towards the town,” Pam says.
In their married life they have lived in several towns but Pam says Bridport is their favourite.
“We lived in Adelaide and I didn’t mind that as a city but Bridport is special, it just feels like home and always will be.”