ANTWERP BRITISH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION vzw Maandelijkse Newsletter – april 2017

Verschijnt niet in juli Verantwoordelijk uitgever:

Mary Ann Marinus, Frankrijklei 94/b14-15, 2000 Antwerpen Afgiftekantoor 2000 Antwerpen 1

POO8284

CONTENTS

Dates for your diary ................................ 2

From our Chairman ................................ 3

Thought for the month ............................ 3

Membership matters ............................... 4

Your Association needs you! ................. 4

Get Well Soon .......................................... 4

Subscriptions received ............................ 4

Easter Lunch ............................................ 5

Hanam ....................................................... 6

One Night in Manhattan ........................ 7

Annual General Meeting ........................ 8

Nomination form ...................................... 9

The World of Steve McCurry ............... 10

Anemone – the April Flower ............... 11

The Nuns’ Story ..................................... 12

SuDokus .................................................. 13

April Quiz ................................................ 14

April Crossword .................................... 15

Useful Information ................................ 16

2

Dates for your diary

ABCA events in BOLD type

1-17 April Oostende : cultural festival “Springtij”

16th April Easter Sunday

23rd April ABCA Easter lunch at de Basiliek hotel

26th April ABCA AGM & Open Evening at the Highlander

Advance Notice:

14th May ABCA : Antwerp Police Band : Lente Concert in the Roma

Until 21st May Mechelen : “Contour” Biennial of the Moving Image

30th May Boom : Spartacus Run, De Schorre

31st May ABCA Open Evening - Highlander

June-August Antwerp Summer Festival - Kammenstraat

Until July 2017 Rockox House : The Golden Cabinet – paintings of the 17th century

21st July ABCA BBQ

ABCA Antwerp British Community Association: For payments, call Margaret du Maine on 03 651 32 24 For membership matters, call Nadine Hechtermans on 03 480 34 77 (evenings)

Open Evenings: The Highlander, Stadswaag 21, 2000 Antwerpen (03 226 91 80)

ABIW Antwerp British & International Women: http://www.abiw.org/. MtS Missions to Seafarers: contact Rev. Brian Millson on 03 605 41 88 RBL Royal British Legion, info Bob Chambers on 0474 282843 St.Boniface St Boniface Anglican Church: contact Fr Wagstaff SSC on 03 239 33 39 BATS British American Theatrical Society: contact Jill Franks

Printed by:

Lange vlierstraat 35,2000 Antwerpen

7 op 7 open

3

From our Chairman

Dear Members,

The Easter lunch on the 23rd is one of our annual fundraisers. It’s also a great social occasion, a chance to meet up with friends. We hope you will attend as we need your support to carry on doing all things benevolent.

The other event this month is the AGM on the 26th . By now of course your membership dues have been paid up. Should you not be able to attend the AGM you may wish to give your proxy to a nominated person.

From all of us on the Committee, have a nice Easter .

Best wishes,

Mary Ann Marinus

Chairman

Expat citizens’ rights in EU

We have received the following information from ECREU (no connection with ABCA): Their aim is to work to protect the best interests of UK citizens living in the EU and EU citizens living in the UK following the British Referendum of 23 June 2016. They will talk with politicians and officials who share your concerns for your future, regardless of their party affiliations, with the objective of persuading them to make sure your future wellbeing living in your country of choice is protected by any changes in national or international legislation. ECREU does not seek to make political points and does not support any political party or group. They do not campaign for 'Remain' or 'Leave'. They just want the best outcome for expat citizens whatever the outcome of Brexit. Website : http://www.ecreu.com/

Thought for the month

"You can't have everything... where would you put it?"

~ Steven Wright ~

4

Membership matters

Your Association needs you!

Penny Law has let us know that her return to the UK means that she will no longer be able to carry out her task as member of the committee. Her retirement will take place as from the AGM in April 2017. There will therefore be a place for a new committee member from that date. If you, or anyone you know (with their permission), would be interested in joining us, please let one of the current committee members know (names and addresses on the back of the newsletter). We usually meet about four times a year to discuss coming events and consider any other matters which arise, so it is not very time-consuming, but you could be helping to keep ABCA alive and kicking into its second century!

Get Well Soon

To Mylène Nutter on release from hospital and Monique van Hooren who is currently in hospital – best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Subscriptions received From 20th February to 20th March

Ivo & Julie Daniels-Thompson Berthe Grégoire-Kerstens Brian Millson

Gerry & Rita Gallagher-Daems Desmond Johnstone Sue Nurse-Harrison

If your name does not appear on this list, or in previous newsletters, please don’t forget:

Single subscription: €20 Double (2 at same address): €34

Please transfer to the ABCA bank account BE11 2200 3243 8048

Note that your subscription must be paid by the AGM, or you will be removed from the membership list

5

Easter Lunch

The Easter Lunch will once again be held at our favourite venue, the hotel Basiliek, this year on Sunday 23rd April at 12h30 for 13h00.

Menu: Asparagus “à la Flamande”

Fillet of lamb in a light mustard sauce

with green beans, carrots, grilled tomatoes and small baked potatoes

Easter ice-cream

Coffee/tea Water/Wine

Biscuits/chocolates etc.

Cost for the Easter Lunch is €38pp for ABCA members and €39 for non-members – it is free if you are over 75 and a long-time ABCA member. Payment, if relevant, should

be made to the ABCA account N° BE11 2200 3243 8048. Your transfer should be made by 18th April. If you haven't received your personal invitation yet, it could be

because we don't know that you have reached your 75th birthday… -----------------------------

ABCA event in May (14th at 3pm)! The local Antwerp police band has an excellent reputation and perform not only all over the country but wider afield too. For the last five years they have been in the ROMA (on the Turnhoutsebaan) and by popular demand they’re back again this year, accompanied by Jelle Cleymans. We have managed to get 12 tickets at a mere €14 per ticket – so if you’re interested : as usual first come first served – payment to be made to the ABCA account BE11 2200 3243 8048 but call Mary Ann first to check availability!.

6

Hanam

Hanami ("flower viewing") is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient

beauty of flowers, the flowers being ("hana") in this case almost always referring to those

of the cherry tree ("sakura"). From the end of March to early May, sakura bloom all over

Japan. The blossom forecast "cherry blossom front" is announced each year by

the weather bureau, and is watched carefully by those planning hanami as the blossoms

only last a week or two. In modern-day Japan, hanami mostly consists of having an

outdoor party beneath the sakura during daytime or at night. Hanami at night is

called yozakura or "night sakura". In many places such as Ueno Park, temporary paper

lanterns are hung for the purpose of such evenings. On the island of Okinawa,

decorative electric lanterns are hung in the trees for evening enjoyment, such as on the

trees ascending Mt. Yae, near Motobu Town, or at the Nakijin Castle.

The practice of hanami is many centuries old. The custom is said to have started during

the Nara period (710–794) and hanami was first used as a term in the novel The Tale of

Genji. Sakura originally was used to divine the next harvest as well as to announce the

rice-planting season. People believed in kami inside the trees and made offerings. And

afterwards partook of the offerings with a drink of sake. In the Imperial Court in Kyoto,

the Emperor held flower-viewing parties with sake and feasts underneath the

blossoming boughs of sakura trees. Poems would be written praising the delicate

flowers, which were seen as a metaphor for life itself, luminous and beautiful, yet fleeting

and ephemeral. These customs were originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court,

but soon spread to Samurai society and, by the Edo period, to the common people as

well. Under the sakura trees, people had lunch and drank sake in abundance. The

proverb “dumplings rather than flowers” (hana yori dango?) hints at the real priorities

for most cherry blossom viewers, meaning that people are more interested in the food

and drink accompanying a hanami party than actually viewing the flowers themselves.

7

One Night in Manhattan

Imagine yourself back in time in the swinging New York of the previous century, a New York vibrant with jazz, song and dance.

A crooner, a jazz band and a smoky nightclub in throbbing Manhattan. The band is playing, a woman is dancing. She can wind any man round her little finger. But who will be the winner on this unforgettable night in Manhattan and who will be the melancholy loser left dreaming of what could have been?

Choreographer Isabelle Beernaert takes you to the romance of the New York of the Forties to the Sixties and lets you lose yourself in a stunning revival of songs from Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald etc. Old numbers are given a swinging new update while keeping the original ambiance of the old days.

Enjoy a lost Night in Manhattan!

With live jazz from the Frank Deruytter Quintet en vocals by Ivar Oosterloo ( famous as The Voice of Holland). Accompanied onstage by dancers.

Producer : Isabelle Beernaert

Venue: Stadsschouwburg, Antwerp

Date: April 20.

Other dates in Ghent and Hasselt

8

Annual General Meeting of the

ANTWERP BRITISH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

VZW

This year’s AGM will take place on 26th April at the Highlander on Stadswaag. The AGM starts at 8.30 pm, but the evening will begin at our usual Open Evening time. Remember: unless your membership for the current year is fully paid, you cannot vote at the AGM, stand for Committee or nominate anyone else to stand; and following the AGM, your membership will cease. For your information, Committee members are elected for a term of two years, after which they have to be re-elected. The following Committee members are willing to stand for election having served a two-year term: Margaret du Maine Jill Barnard The following have served one year of a two-year term on the Committee and therefore can remain on the Committee without having to be re-elected: Mary Ann Marinus Nadine Hechtermans Stephanie Hughes Attached is a nomination form. Each member of ABCA eligible to vote (that is to say, a fully paid-up member whose membership payment for the present year has been made before 31st March 2017) is able to nominate up to six persons for election to the Committee, in addition to those already serving or standing (see above). You must have received the agreement of each person that you nominate to accept nomination, and these people must also be full or honorary members of ABCA. Should the number of nominations exceed the number of places available on the Committee, then a ballot will be necessary. In order for this ballot to take place, the form or forms below must be returned to the Chairman by 20th April.

9

Nomination form I, a Full Member of ABCA and thus able to nominate up to six Full Members of ABCA for the 2017/2018 Committee, nominate the following, all of whom have confirmed to me their willingness to stand for election.

Nominee (in block letters) Nominated by (in block letters)

1

2

3

4 (signature below)

5

6

Donations We propose the following charities for this year : Kamiano, the British Charitable Fund and Moeders for Moeders. Should you wish to nominate another charity please e-mail Mary Ann before 20th April 2017.

.

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10

The World of Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry is an American photographer best known for his 1984 photograph

"Afghan Girl", which originally appeared in the National Geographic magazine. McCurry

is the recipient of numerous awards, including Magazine Photographer of the Year,

awarded by the National Press Photographers Association; the Royal Photographic

Society's Centenary Medal; and two first-place prizes in the World Press Photo contest

(1985 and 1992).

McCurry's career was launched when, disguised in Afghani attire, he crossed

the Pakistan border into rebel-controlled areas of Afghanistan just before the Soviet

invasion and left with rolls of film sewn into his clothes. The images he smuggled out

were subsequently published by The New York Times, TIME and Paris Match and won

him the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad.

McCurry continued to cover armed conflicts, including the Iran-Iraq War, the Lebanese

Civil War, the Cambodian Civil War, the Islamic insurgency in the Philippines, the Gulf

War and the Afghan Civil War. He focused on the human consequences of war,

intending to not only show what war impresses on the landscape, but rather, on the

human face. “Most of my images are grounded in people. I look for the unguarded

moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face. I try to

convey what it is like to be that person, a person caught in a broader landscape, that you

could call the human condition.”

In December 1984 McCurry took his most recognized portrait, "Afghan Girl", of an

young Pashtun orphan in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan. The

image itself was named as "the most recognized photograph" in the history of

the National Geographic magazine, and the girl’s face became famous as the cover on the

June 1985 issue.

The exhibition shows more than 200 large format photos and is the largest and most complete retrospective dedicated to the American photographer. It charts his long journey from Afghanistan to India, from Southeast Asia to Africa, from Cuba to the United States and from Brazil to Italy.

Venue: Brussels Stock Exchange

When: from March 4 through June 25 Mondays through Sundays.

11

Anemone – the April Flower

Anemones are unusual looking flowers known for their ability to predict rain. The old wives’ tale says that when an anemone’s petal closes up a storm is on its way! Because it grows well it is a popular choice for gardeners.

The Greek derivative of anemone, anemos, means wind, which is why it is often referred to as the “wind flower”. Many symbolic references to anemones also talk about death because of their interesting history. They have often been linked to the forsaken or those left behind because of the myth of Adonis and Aphrodite.

Adonis and Aphrodite had a great love story that inspired writers like Ovid and Shakespeare. One day, Adonis was hunting through the forest followed by Aphrodite in her chariot. Ares, Aphrodite’s ex-lover, grew jealous of her relationship with the mortal and attacked him disguised as a boar. Aphrodite covered his wound in nectar and carried his body out of the woods in an attempt to save him, but his soul had already departed to the underworld. The crimson anemones were said to have grown where each drop of blood and nectar landed. The anemone’s association with the mythic love of Aphrodite and Adonis led to the flower symbolizing unfading love.

The flowers had different meanings in different cultures:

• Europeans used to hold their breath through anemone fields because they believed anemones carried bad omens and misfortune.

• In a more charming tale, the English and Irish believed the flower’s petals closed

when fairies were sleeping inside. So be careful when you tread on an anemone.

12

The Nuns’ Story

By Raymond De Backer

This true story comes to us courtesy of Raymond De Backer. “With my father-in-law, we drove down the main road in his Buick motor-car towards the coast when, all of a sudden, two nuns appeared, looking for a lift with both their hands raised into the air. When my father-in-law said to me "let' s do a Christian deed and let them come into our car", I stepped out of the vehicle and put their two heavy bags into the boot. My wife, Sonia’s father then drove off with the so-called nuns sitting in the back seats, but, I then noticed that they were both wearing very large boots on their feet, probably sized 49 or 50, by Belgian standards. Well beyond what genuine nuns should have been wearing. Eventually, I gently nudged my elbow against the ribs of Sonia's father, whispering to him that he should stop the car, to which he promptly reacted, and thereafter told the nuns that there was something wrong with its engine. He then asked the two nuns to step out of the automobile, retire to the back of it and to push it onwards with both hands on the boot, so that the engine could again spring into life. This they certainly did, but were left stranded when Sonia's father raced away, with both their heavy bags still in the boot. When we reached our destination, we looked into those two bags but, to our complete astonishment, found them to contain such items as equipment for breaking into premises, loads of dynamite and two large sledge-hammers, all on hand for breaking into banks and other suitable targets. When reaching a nearby police station, the detective inspector told us that, despite wearing unusually large footware for nuns, only God could know what would have happened to us in the hands of those two characters. He also mentioned that any disposal of their clothing as nuns would make any proper identification of them almost impossible. He did, however, congratulate us on the cool way we extracted ourselves from a most ugly and potentially dangerous situation.”

13

SuDokus April puzzles

March solutions

14

April Quiz

1. Robert Stephen Rintoul founded which politics and culture magazine in 1828? 2. Which county cricket team play at Sophia Gardens? 3. Mr. Smiley's drive-thru fast food restaurant is found in which film starring Kevin Spacey? 4. Is an Impala an antelope, a cat or a dog? 5. Yellowstone National Park is primarily in which US state? 6. The mayor of which city may call Archibald Grace Mansion their official residence? 7. Kyle Reese is a fictional character from which film franchise? 8. Who said: "If they made a film of my life, I think they should get George Clooney to play me. He's a fantastic actor and my wife thinks he would be ideal." 9. Which rugby union man who played and coached the British and Irish Lions was awarded a knighthood in the 2010 New Years Honours List? 10. Which Dutch painter painted the 'Prodigal Son in the Brothel' self-portrait? 11. What is the name of the most southernly point on the UK mainland? 12. Which Jennifer played Tiffany in the 2012 film 'Silver Linings Playbook'? 13. In which film might you find Jennifer Aniston working at Chotchkies? 14. What does GPS stand for in GPS navigation devices? 15. In the 2004 novel The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, what kind of animal is Despereaux?

March answers 1 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; 2. Two Door Cinema Club; 3 Threepenny Opera;

4 Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; 5 Five Children and It; 6 Half a Sixpence; 7 Seven

Brides for Seven Brothers; 8 After Eight; 9 Nine Wells; 10 Big 10 (Connection -

numbers); 11 El Greco; 12 The Scream; 13 Chris Ofili; 14 Mona Lisa; 15 Lucian Freud

15

April Crossword

Across

1 Smug (10)

7 Peak (8)

8 Spoke falsely (4)

9 Republic of Ireland (4)

10 Opportunities (7)

12 Fine penmanship (11)

14 Refrain from voting (7)

16 Reverberation (4)

19 Compass bearing (4)

20 Feelings (8)

21 Constantly (3,3,4)

Down

1 Tick off (5)

2 Dog of mixed breed (7)

3 Deficiency (4)

4 English cheese (8)

5 Synthetic fabric (5)

6 Crunchy salad vegetable (6)

11 Assiduous (8)

12 Telegraphs (6)

13 Italian opera composer (7)

15 Sum (5)

17 Unit of weight (5)

18 Italy's capital (4)

March Solution

16

Useful Information Patron: HM Ambassador to Belgium Committee for 2016/2017:

Chairman Mary Ann Marinus Frankrijklei 94/b14 2000 Antwerpen tel: 0486 646 941 (pm only) maryann.marinus@hotmail.com

Vice Chairman Penny Law Geestenspoor 113 2180 Ekeren tel: 03 542 20 71 drpenelopejanelaw@hotmail.com

Hon. Treasurer Margaret du Maine Miksebeekstraat 104 2930 Brasschaat tel: 03 651 32 24 mdumaine@scarlet.be

Secretary Nadine Hechtermans Lispersteenweg 219 2500 Lier tel: 03 480 34 77 nadine.hechtermans@telenet.be

Committee Member Jill Barnard Baggenstraat 14 2140 Borgerhout tel: 0474 432191 jillbarnard2000@yahoo.com

Committee Member Stephanie Hughes Maarschalk Gerardstraat 21, bus 1 2000 Antwerpen tel: 0484661331 stephanie.hughes@ua.ac.be

Newsletter Editor Madeleine Richardson Prins Boudewijnlaan 84/3 2610 Wilrijk tel: 03 230 49 47 madeleine.richardson@telenet.be

Benevolent Matters Dora Jolly Hollandstraat 38 2060 Antwerpen tel: 03 232 71 15 aljolly@busmail.net

Anglican Church St Boniface Church Grétrystraat 39 2018 Antwerpen tel: 03 239 33 39 chaplain@boniface.be

Webmaster: brian.paul.edwards@gmail.com

ABCA Website: www.abca-antwerp.be e-mail address:ABCA_Antwerp@yahoo.com

ABCA recognizes the diversity of belief in contemporary British society and accordingly directs members wanting to contact other faith groups to the “Gids Levensbeschouwingen Antwerpen”/Multifaith Antwerp guide, published by the Stad Antwerpen. Information on www.antwerpen.be - tel 03 338 3115.

ABCA Bank Account number is BE11 2200 3243 8048. Annual subscription: Single: € 20, Double: € 34. Donations towards our benevolent work are welcome.

Please feel free to submit items for inclusion in the newsletter, such as poems you particularly like, anecdotes, stories about Antwerp, hints, suggestions. Items must be submitted to the editor by the 20th of the month for inclusion in the next edition.

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