Find out a bit more about Wendy Pinches

Wendy Pinches is a South African citizen and has lived in Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth, on the Eastern Cape coastline her entire life.

She is a retired primary school teacher who taught Grade 5 for most of her career.  She started off as an Itinerant Xhosa Teacher, having studied the traditional language endemic to the province while at Teachers’ College.  She held this position for ten years until, after the birth of their daughter, Lauren, she opted to become a ‘stay at home’ mom. 

During these six years, she not only raised two children, adding their son, Ryan, to their family three years later, but managed to find time to explore her many hobbies.  Wendy and her husband, David, both love animals and their children had a variety of pet hamsters, budgies, goldfish and dogs over the years.  At the moment, they have two Cocker Spaniels named Topaz and Onyx.

Wendy’s many hobbies include all things creative.  She is an avid cook and baker and loves spoiling her friends and family with a home cooked meal or tasty treat.  She has tried her hand at sewing, but prefers crocheting and especially knitting.  She has also done silk and fabric painting, but currently prefers card making, scrapbooking, making gifts and Bible Journalling.  She also enjoys challenging her brain with a good crossword puzzle or completing a jigsaw puzzle. 

Wendy was taught to love books and reading from an early age and fondly remembers how her dad would desperately try to skip pages when reading bedtime stories to her as she insisted that he read the same stories to her over and over again.

As soon as she learned to read, trips to the local library became a regular occurrence and she recalls reading every Beatrix Potter and Enid Blyton book she could lay her hands on.  Series such as the Secret Seven and Famous Five were also firm favourites.

Fridays also became her favourite day of the week as she would find the weekly editions of ‘June and Schoolfriends’ and ‘Princess Tina’ magazines, that her mom ordered for her, waiting on her bed when she arrived home from school.

As she has aged, so her taste in reading has varied, but she continues to enjoy a good mystery or crime story far more than a flowery romance.

She returned to teaching in 1996 when, upon enrolling her daughter for Grade 1 at Westering Primary School, she was offered a teaching position at the school. This proved to be an answer to prayer and she spent the next twenty-four years teaching there.  She will be forever grateful for, not only the excellent grounding that her own children received from outstanding teachers, but also for the many life-long friendships that she forged with members of staff who quickly became more like family than friends.

Wendy retired from teaching at the end of 2019 after agonising over her decision for more than a year.  Having always nurtured the dream of writing and illustrating children’s books, she dabbled with various ideas until Anthony Ant was born.