Dutch life, Reflection

Living around IBC Eindhoven – Geldrop

As ‘the body of Christ’ far away from home, we live in Eindhoven and the greater area. Eindhoven is a booming city at the moment. Eindhoven University of Technology and Fontys University of Applied Sciences are attracting a lot of foreign students. The Brainport region is known for high-tech industries and creating innovations. With the Design Academy there is also the softer side of exploring the future. So, Eindhoven is on the map again, after being a bit dull when the Philips factories left the city. After the Second World War, Eindhoven became an important city of industry for lighting and televisions with Philips, and with cars but especially trucks with DAF.

Little villages

Around Eindhoven there are a lot of little villages which also grew fast, as the new employees came down south in the early fifties. In the coming episodes of the newsletter I will highlight some unknown facts about the villages were IBC members live.

Geldrop

This time I will start with Geldrop, home of four IBC families. Geldrop is east of Eindhoven and has 29.000 inhabitants. The river the Dommel flows through Geldrop and Eindhoven in the direction of Den Bosch.

Geldrop was known for its weaving and the river played a big part in the industrialization, as a source for power for the machinery. There were six weaving factories in the early 1920s, replacing the weaving at home. In one of the old factories is an interesting weaving museum, a good day out for young and old.

Geldrop Castle

Along the riverbanks in the center of Geldrop is a castle. It was the home of the Protestant family Van Tuyll van Serooskerken. They built a church on their property in 1874 which could be used by the protestant society, containing only 80 people in the Catholic south. One of the protestant pastors was the father of Vincent van Gogh. The church was taken down in 1964, but my brother was born just in time and was baptized in this old castle church.

Nowadays the castle is used for weddings and cultural activities and is open on Sundays. The gardens around the castle are open all day and in one of the corners is a petting zoo. Geldrop is known as a quiet and safe village with all the first necessities. A great place to live or visit!

Mathil

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