A few weeks ago, Julietta and I were in Antwerp and had a brief but lovely meeting with Cas and Ellen. It reminded me just what a wonderful family we have. Seeing familiar faces and hearing their stories made me realise how much richer our lives are when we truly connect with one another.

I myself haven’t seen most of you for a very long time, partly because Julietta and I have been rather busy building a family of our own. Still, I would really love our children to grow up with that same sense of belonging that I had – to know the wider Verbeek family, meet cousins, aunts, uncles, and share in the stories that make us who we are. Now, with new generations and new additions to the family, we’d love to create an opportunity for everyone to meet and get to know each other a little better.

So… Julietta and I would like to invite you to a Verbeek family get-together at our home in Bergen, on Saturday 6 June. It will be a relaxed day in our garden filled with stories, good food, drinks, and just being together.

Since some of you would be traveling from abroad, I’d first like to get a sense of who might be interested before finalising all the details. Bergen has plenty of hotels and guest houses nearby, and I’m happy to help with arrangements if needed.

If this feels like a day you’d like to be part of, please let me know. The more Verbeeks, Blaauboers, Botterills, Dunfords, Johnsons, Nearys, Noonans, Van Miechems, Van Zuilichems, Wildenbeests and Wronskis we can gather, the better – it would be wonderful to see the many branches of our family tree together and have a good laugh.

If you have some nice family photos please send them to me so I can make a collective album for the occasion.

Niels