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Memories of Merelbeke - een randgemeente van Gent

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Belgium 1970s

256

MERELBEKE

We lived in Belgium in the 1970s. Dad, Eric Hayles was working for Volvo Europa at Oostakker near Ghent and we moved into a house in the Verlorenbroodstraat in Merelbeke. We hope you enjoy our evocative photos of life in Merelbeke, a suburb of Ghent.

56 files, last one added on Oct 27, 2014
Album viewed 1727 times

GHENT/GENT BELGIUM

We lived near the beautiful city of Ghent (Gent) in Belgium in East Flanders (Oost Vlaanderen) from 1974 till 1978, although dad was there for about another six years after that. We hope you enjoy some of our photo archive from those happy times.

48 files, last one added on Oct 27, 2014
Album viewed 359 times

MERELBEKE FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS

Some of our wonderful neighbours and friends when we lived in Merelbeke. If you know any names that we haven't mentioned, please add them below the photo.

109 files, last one added on Oct 27, 2014
Album viewed 543 times

DANSCLUB TERPSICHORE MERELBEKE

Mum and dad had dancing lessons at the Dansclub Terpsichore in Hundelgemsesteenweg in 1977-78. These are pictures from one of their social functions.

15 files, last one added on Mar 15, 2014
Album viewed 388 times

OUT AND ABOUT IN BELGIUM

13 files, last one added on Mar 23, 2014
Album viewed 300 times

Our Welsh friends, the Davies Family

We attended church at the Evangelisch Centruum, Burgstraat, Gent, where we got to know the wonderful Davies family from Wales (the clue was in the name!) Charles and Betty, Godfrey, Joseph and Noel. There were also two sisters who weren't in Belgium. Charles was an accomplished artists and signwriter. He once had a job painting the Coca Cola logo on lorries, so he must have been very good! He also painted a sign for our neighbours opposite which read "Bobinage van motoren".

11 files, last one added on Apr 26, 2014
Album viewed 289 times

Documentation

Leaflets and other documentation from our time in Belgium

4 files, last one added on Dec 05, 2017
Album viewed 85 times

7 albums on 1 page(s)

Belgium 1990s

VISITS TO MERELBEKE IN 1990s

In the 1990s, along came the internet. Jonathan put "Merelbeke" into a search engine to see what he would see, and stumbled across the website of Sint-Michielsschool. After writing a greeting in the guest book he received a reply from Guy van Heddegem, and a friendship developed which led to Jonathan visiting Merelbeke in 1998 and writing a song which was performed at the school's Eindejaarshow. He visited again the following year. Here are some pictures from those shows.... we hope to bring you some video clips in the future too. Photos mostly by Jonathan Hayles, captions by Guy van Heddegem.

40 files, last one added on Mar 16, 2014
Album viewed 297 times

1 albums on 1 page(s)

296 files in 8 albums and 2 categories with 5 comments viewed 100,527 times

Last additions

GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 4/41321 viewsDec 05, 2017

GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 3/41273 viewsDec 05, 2017

1/4221 viewsDec 05, 2017

GITO Merelbeke leaflet from 1975 2/4231 viewsGITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975Dec 05, 2017

Cards at Number 31365 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried at his mother's in Moortsele367 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried's mother in Moortsele362 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried and Lydiane at Wilfried's mother's in Moortsele376 viewsOct 27, 2014

Tram near the Gravensteen in Ghent, 1978593 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa364 viewsOct 27, 2014

Lydiane makes sure Wilfried is doing things properly366 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa357 viewsOct 27, 2014

Random files

Don Pepe Merelbeke 1977 by night, by Jonathan Hayles553 viewsTaken on an Agfa box camera resting on the ground with an exposure of about one minute.

Josh, Lydiane and Wilfried in Numer 29239 views

Verlorenbroodstraat, at the end of the road.537 views

Boerderij in Merelbeke320 views

Ghent skyline 1979290 views

Wilsonplein, Ghent449 viewsDad stayed in the Park Hotel when he first arrived in Belgium, in the centre of Ghent.

1/4221 views

Friends and neighbours round the piano235 views

The Cowans and the Davies's296 viewsA visit to Ypres. Mr and Mrs Cowan from Hayes Town Chapel were staying with us. Mum and Dad took them on a visit to Ypres. Betty and Charles Davies are there too, along with their sons Noel and Joseph. Dad can't remember if you all met up in Ypres or travelled together. Either way, he didn't have room in our car for his sons, and it was as a result of that he decided to buy the Volkwagen minibus you see in some of our other pictures. It was so if friends came over from England, we could all go out together.

Ringvaart Merelbeke 1975570 views

Sint-Michielsschool 1999222 views

Sint-Michielsschool 1999284 views