Committee members
Chair: Jean-Marie van Isacker
Jean-Marie moved to the Burgemeester van Woelderenlaan in 2018. He is an art and antiques appraiser. Since returning from New York City he has appraised the art collections belonging to Veere and Middelburg. His experience as a committee head is a relic of his committee membership at Round Table 1 N-Y and at the Kiwanis in Middelburg. As a committee member of the nature foundation Tuin van Zeeland he fought for the preservation of the typical hawthorn hedges and wind shaped trees along countryside roads. During these years he elaborated a strategy for sustainable caretaking of the ‘greenery’ belonging to the three towns in Walcheren, the Province of Zeeland, the water management corporation and the Dutch highway department. Jean-Marie always looks into solutions for out-of-balance and threatened landscapes. He went to court for the preservation of one of the two canal dikes that provided the entrance to the Middelburg harbour which was in use during the Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) trading times with a successful verdict. He believes the parc should not become a ‘Build Back Better’ echo chamber but provide an example for an alternative ‘Grow Green Graciously’. He set up the foundation in 2019 to protect the parc indefinitely.
Board member: Jan Goudswaard
Moving to Vlissingen as a “Middelburger” is, according to many, a topsy-turvy world… We lived for over 35 years in the windmill “De Onderneming” in the ‘Zand’ district of Middelburg: initially with 2 sons, who – naturally – eventually left the parental home. So after that, just the two of us lived in the admittedly very large house. Furthermore, a home of about 200 years old requires a lot of regular maintenance, and therefore we decided at some point that we would go live “elsewhere.” That “elsewhere” did not turn out to be an apartment, but rather a home once again “almost” surrounded by greenery on Burgemeester van Woelderenlaan with a direct view of the Westduinpark.
That view, incidentally, consists not only of grass, trees, and shrubs, but also countless walkers – often with 1 or 2 dogs, athletes (especially on Saturdays and Sundays), and a great many children enjoying themselves at the skatepark or on all kinds of “gym” bars (which are unfortunately poorly maintained by the municipality). So, that “upside-down world” in the first sentence is completely untrue. We haven’t regretted our move, about 6 years ago, for a single moment. In my opinion, the current layout of the park fulfills exactly both the original wish of Mayor van Woelderen and that of all the people who enjoy the park daily.
My wife and I have always worked in healthcare, and nothing is better than putting on running shoes after busy days and going for a run, road bike, tennis, or golf. We have continued doing those sports even after we retired. Running a lap in the park every day—even when it rains—is almost addictive. And we are talking about “nollebos,” but let’s not forget the beautiful lakes and waterways with everything that lives in or on them. In May, it is a joy to walk past a certain lake, where hundreds of green frogs celebrate spring with their croaking! And everywhere you see ducks, geese, and moorhens busily foraging with their chicks: how fortunate we, as residents of Vlissingen, are to have such a beautiful park in our city!
