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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 2160 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 744 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 982 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 778 times

OUT AND ABOUT IN BELGIUM

13 files, last one added on Mar 23, 2014
Album viewed 727 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 643 times

Documentation

Leaflets and other documentation from our time in Belgium

4 files, last one added on Dec 05, 2017
Album viewed 422 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 644 times

1 albums on 1 page(s)

296 files in 8 albums and 2 categories with 5 comments viewed 254,532 times

Last additions

GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 4/44653 viewsDec 05, 2017

GITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975 3/44426 viewsDec 05, 2017

1/41215 viewsDec 05, 2017

GITO Merelbeke leaflet from 1975 2/4860 viewsGITO Merelbeke flyer van 1975Dec 05, 2017

Cards at Number 311046 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried at his mother's in Moortsele1205 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried's mother in Moortsele1125 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried and Lydiane at Wilfried's mother's in Moortsele1133 viewsOct 27, 2014

Tram near the Gravensteen in Ghent, 19781691 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa1096 viewsOct 27, 2014

Lydiane makes sure Wilfried is doing things properly1097 viewsOct 27, 2014

Wilfried adds the finishing touches to his villa1085 viewsOct 27, 2014

Random files

The Meerschauts and our relatives from England532 views

The Cowans and the Davies's620 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.

Photo developers A Bracke in Merelbeke1145 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.

Sint-Michielsschool 1999481 views

Maureen and Hilda524 views

Noel Davies, Andrew Hayles and Michael Hayles 463 viewsVerlorenbroodstraat Merelbeke 1976

Sky in Verlorenbroodstraat Merelbeke, 1970s921 views

Wilfried's mother in Moortsele1125 views

Visit to The Atomium Brussels 1975453 views

Sint-Michielsschool 1999476 views

The Atomium in Brussels in 1975452 views

Party time at Dansclub Terpsichore Merelbeke473 views