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 Memories of Merelbeke - een randgemeente van Gent

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GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 4/44150 viewsDec 05, 2017
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GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 3/43988 viewsDec 05, 2017
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1/4784 viewsDec 05, 2017
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GITO Merelbeke leaflet from 1975 2/4596 viewsGITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975Dec 05, 2017
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Cards at Number 31784 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Wilfried at his mother's in Moortsele777 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Wilfried's mother in Moortsele776 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Wilfried and Lydiane at Wilfried's mother's in Moortsele782 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Tram near the Gravensteen in Ghent, 19781369 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa754 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Lydiane makes sure Wilfried is doing things properly748 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa742 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Visitors to Number 31565 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Visitors to Number 31554 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Visitors to Number 31571 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Visitors to Number 31585 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Josh and Lydiane in Number 29476 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Josh and Lydiane in Number 29461 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Jonathan, Lydiane and Wilfried in Numer 29486 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Jonathan, Lydiane and Wilfried in Numer 29452 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Josh, Lydiane and Wilfried in Numer 29465 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Jonathan, Lydiane and Wilfried in Numer 29454 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Hilda & Marcel Meersschaut with our Uncle Fred456 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Hilda & Marcel Meersschaut with our Uncle Fred469 viewsOct 27, 2014
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500 viewsOct 27, 2014
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462 viewsOct 27, 2014
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466 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Ghent skyline 1979596 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Ghent skyline 1979584 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Ghent 1979808 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Ghent 1979597 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Our Merelbeke home starts arriving back in England.....944 views.... on the roof of dad's VW Transporter minibus.Oct 27, 2014
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Ghent skyline 1979636 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Ghent skyline 1979602 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Josh in living room of Verlorenbrooadstraat 29524 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Ronny Meersschaut in living room of Verlorenbrooadstraat 29471 viewsOct 27, 2014
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A great night at Number 31475 viewsOct 27, 2014
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A great night at Number 31460 viewsOct 27, 2014
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A great night at Number 31468 viewsOct 27, 2014
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A great night at Number 31474 viewsOct 27, 2014
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Lydiane de Moor with a pet April 1978480 viewsOct 26, 2014
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Eric Piens watched by his son Reuben522 viewsApril 1978
I believe Eric is using Wilfried de Moor's cement mixer. I recognise it well!
Oct 26, 2014
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Eric Piens helped by sons Hedwig and Reuben512 viewsApril 1978
I believe Eric is using Wilfried de Moor's cement mixer. I recognise it well!
Oct 26, 2014
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Reuben, Josh and Maureen514 viewsOct 26, 2014
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Maureen and Josh515 viewsOct 26, 2014
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Photo developers A Bracke in Merelbeke981 viewsWhen we lived in Merelbeke in the 1970s, a spooky old derelict building stood on the corner of Hundelgemsesteenweg and Van Goethemstraat, next to the potato yard. Then one day, a couple opened a smart little photo shop in part of it. They were related to the Piens family who lived next door to us in Verlorenbrooadstraat.

The finished photos came back in an envelope with a drawing of the building. The entrance was to the right, just behind the tree in the picture.
Oct 26, 2014
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Skating on ice on a small brook next to the Watersportsbaan in Ghent.625 viewsThe Hayles brothers, December 1975Oct 26, 2014
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Skating on ice on a small brook next to the Watersportsbaan in Ghent.1096 viewsThe Hayles brothers, December 19751 commentsOct 26, 2014
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Sledging on ice on a small brook next to the Watersportsbaan in Ghent.628 viewsUnknown Gentenaars.Oct 26, 2014
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Wilfried de Moor being very neighbourly512 viewsFor some reason, Wilfried seems to be clearing the snow at Hayles House! December 78 or Jan 79.Oct 26, 2014
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Charles Davies and Joe Davies on BBC One's The One Show - Just their bit511 viewsApr 26, 2014
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Charles Davies and Joe Davies on BBC One's The One Show715 viewsFor about 30 years, I'd be wanting to get back in touch with the Davies's, the family we'd known in Belgium.

I'd made a number of searches on the internet over the years, but not managed to find them.

Then on April 22nd 2014, the "One Show" on BBC1 was on. We had the sound down, and only left it because Rick Wakeham was going to be on, who played the wonderful keyboard arrangement on the Cat Stevens version of Morning Has Broken.

Not really paying attention, I suddenly saw a man on the screen who looked just like "Mr Davies" from Belgium. I'd only be saying to dad a few days earlier that it would be nice if one day we managed to make contact with the Davies's

"Dad" I said, "that looks just like Mr Davies". By then, the picture had gone, and some middle aged bloke with a beard and grey hair was talking and soon he was gone too.

I said to dad I was pretty sure it WAS Mr Davies.

Here's the report. And it was! And the middle aged bloke was Joseph, last seen as a teenager!
Apr 26, 2014
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Noel, Joseph and Godfrey Davies693 viewsApr 25, 2014
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Noel, Joseph and Godfrey Davies682 viewsApr 25, 2014
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Godfrey's Reliant Robin....519 viewsFound this among dad's pictures. He obviously took it when he came to pick us up from church and was waiting around. He took a few pix of the roads and would have had no idea that was Godfrey's car parked there... not until I told him today, nearly 40 years later!!

Eeeek! For anyone who hasn't found out yet, 40 years is nothing... it flashes by.
Apr 25, 2014
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The Cowans and the Davies's515 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.Apr 25, 2014
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Eating out in Ypres541 viewsMaureen Hayles, Godfrey Davies (just!), Noel Davies, Charles Davies, Ivan Cowan, Josephine Cowan, Betty Davies.

Please watch Godfrey's tribute to his father where towards the end he recalls the occasion in this photograph.

http://www.forevermissed.com/shadowsflee/#gallery%2Fvideos%2F283772

The Davies family had gone to Ypres to have a meal in celebration of Charles and Betty's wedding anniversary.

Quite seperately, Eric and Maureen Hayles had gone to Ypres because Scottish friends from our church in England, Ivan and Josephine Cowan, wanted to visit there.

Ypres is near the French border, nowehere near Ghent, so you can imagine how suprised both parties were to bump in to each other there.

They all had a meal together, and it was a memorable occasion, as Godfrey recounts in his tribute.
Apr 25, 2014
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The Cowans and the Davies's511 viewsApr 25, 2014
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Michael and dad fix the VW exhaust.. it's only one year old!!740 viewsMerelbeke 1977Mar 26, 2014
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Michael and dad fix the VW exhaust.. it's only one year old!!858 viewsMerelbeke 1977Mar 26, 2014
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