Wednesday 22 February 2017

An Anniversary worth to be celebrated!

Birthe from Denmark and Ginger( USA)


Ans     Anneke,    Ida                       Han
I was pleasantly surprised to receive a letter from John and Han Will to remind us of the fact
 that 60 years ago we all met in Zeeland, where we started work in Kapelle- Biezelinge.
We came from various countries. My sister Anneke, my friend Bep Smit and I had been
travelling for hours. We came from Soest and the distance to Kapelle-Biezelinge is great. .We were so happy to finally arrive at our destination, where we could have something to eat and where we could freshen  up.
I remember the first day vividly. Of course there were more Dutch campers than foreign
campers.
I am still in contact with Han and John ( H.) Will. I remember Ida( Han's sister ),
 en Joke( Han's friend ).Then we also met Ans Postma, who was ill.Sadly enough she
 had a sore throat and had to gargle. We all had to do that by way of precaution.

One morning Liz came in our living area in order to fetch her working shoes, but all
 of the shoes were gone. I still don't know where they had been, who found them and
 who had taken them away.

Well missing your workshoes was quite annoying, because the work we had to do was
 mainly picking beans. And the beanplants were all dirty and muddy.The same was the
 case with strawberry planting.

If you want to enlarge the photos, please press once on them .


Our daily rota :
6.15          Boys getting up
6.30          Girls getting up
6.00          Breakfast
6.30          Morningservice
7.00          Off to work
9.00-9.30  Second Breakfast
12.00         Lunch
1.00           Back to work
4.00           Stop work
5.00          Badhuis-Singing
6.00          "Dinner"
7.00-7.15  Quiet time
7.30           EveningProgramme
10.00         Evening Service
11,00         Lights Off
1.00          Sleeping

Evening programme with the locals

After work clean and fresh in front of the badhuis.

Joke, Han, John B
    Our camp was an ecumenical  workcamp, where young people from all over te world
 came together and worked for a month or longer at a project like picking beans or other vegetables, building houses (like we did in Wiesbaden ).



   We saw a lot, talked a lot and had a lot of fun,
 We also sang  a lot. One of our favourite songs was  :

"The eyes of Texas are upon you
  all the lived long day.
 The eyes of Texas are upon you,
 you cannot get away.
 Do not think you can escape them .
 From night till early in the morn.
 The eyes of Texas are upon you
 Till Gabriel blows his horn."

Our Texan Campers: John H.Will and ....Weejee?


                                            

 Another favourite song was:

I love me, I think it is grant.
I go to the pictures and hold my hand
I lay my arm around my waist.
I got so fresh that I slapped my face,



           
My sister  Anneke is thirsty! And Elias from Greece pours  some drink in her mouth


                                                    

We'll all be forsaken if we're always right and end up an old maidNot my words, but John B's










Here endeth my letter, although I have some vivid memories of Elias from Greece among
 more funny situations.
I am afraid I don't know any addresses of campers apart from my sister Anneke's.
 Her husband passed away  in August 2014. My husband died in November 1999.
Anneke has three children, and so have I. Of course I have your address Han and John.
 Thanks for your very interesting x-mas letters.I am looking forward to seeing the
booklet about this workcamp.
And if any of you visits the Netherlands, you are very welcome to stay with me.
 I'll show you the windmills of Kinderdijk.
 I also remember visiting Birthe in Denmark, and  Bent in Copenhagen also in August
1957 .


The auction building













May 2006
Anneke is telling me a joke, while we are resting from our walk
 in Sausmarezpark in Guernsey



Anneke May 2006 Guernsey

To enlarge photos tap on them once.

My eldest daughter and me  on my eightieth birthday 2013


Karien( 43), me(80) Marjolein(46)



My Australian daughter    myself  and  my eldest daughter, who
will turn 50 this year.








4 comments:

Cloudia said...

God Bless you all. Thanks, Wil, for this important post!

betty-NZ said...

How wonderful to have these photos as reminders of your adventure! It's great that you kept in contact with some.

Trubes said...

I enjoyed reading about your adventures at your summer camp Wil,
looks like lacking work shoes you had a grand time.
How lovely to have all those photoes to look back upon.
We used to go to The Lake District for our Summer Camp,
it was great we made so many friends just like you did.
I've still got some pictures to look back upon, I shall
have to get them out.
Best wishes,
Di xxx

Optimistic Existentialist said...

A truly beautiful anniversary :)

I wish you a wonderful weekend :)