My friend Pamela Nottingham, who has died aged 89, was an internationally recognised lacemaker. Over the years she taught a great many people how to make lace, and wrote a number of instructional books, including The Technique of Bobbin Lace (1976), The Technique of Torchon Lace (1979) and Bobbin Lacemaking (1983). She was made MBE in 1998 for services to lacemaking.
Pam’s early life was spent in Marlow, in Buckinghamshire, where she was born to Frederick Nottingham, a railway carter, and his wife, Emily (nee Bennett), from whom Pam learned many crafts, including knitting and embroidery.
At Wycombe high school for girls Pam’s headteacher strongly urged her to go to university, but she decided to study home economics and textiles at Gloucester College instead, for she had a strong will that persisted throughout her life. After graduation in 1955 she taught at Cookham primary school in Berkshire and then at Furze Platt senior school near Maidenhead, where she became deputy headteacher.
In 1973 she met Arthur Johnson, a lecturer at the London College of Printing, on a craft weekend they had both attended. They were married in 1974, moving to Barnet, in north London. There Pam taught home economics and textiles at Woodhouse Sixth Form College, where she was known by her married name, Pamela Johnson. She worked there until her retirement in 1988.
In their spare time Pam and Arthur travelled extensively, taking in far-flung places such as the Galápagos Islands and the Falkland Islands, as well as returning on a number of occasions to New Zealand, a country they loved.
Anything on television beyond an hour bored Pam, and she rarely looked up at the screen as she was usually busy making bobbin lace. As a result, she never recognised any celebrities, with the exception of Terry Wogan – she once appeared on one of his programmes, attempting to teach him lacemaking.
Pam was a kind and generous person, who in later life took meals to friends who were old or infirm. She entertained people with ease and was a good cook, always well-prepared with menus she had planned in advance.
Arthur died in 2002. She is survived by two children from Arthur’s previous marriage, Susan and David, four grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and her brothers Fred and Bill.
