Extension of Info Center Canadian Cemetery on track

Albert van der Maat ( front) and Gerrit Vlogtman hope for the renovated information center at the Candian cemetery to be opened in March.

If everything keeps going well, the first visitors to the renewed information center of the Canadian Cemetery can have a first look at it in March.”That is our goal”, says spokesman Albert van der Maat. ”But we haven’t reached that goal yet. There is still a lot of work to be done”.

The structural work is finished. The new part fits in very well with the existing building. The windows are in place, and so is the wooden platform on which hundreds of groups will leave their footprints in the years to come.

In the past couple of months a lot has been done. But the biggest job is still ahead: the design of the info center. “Building from scratch is easier than renovating”, Albert van der Maat says about the project. It involves an awful lot of things. We haven’t finished yet”.

Inside, the center looks like a building site.The place where the Canadian heroes were cheered only a couple of months ago is in chaos now. Cables dangling from the ceiling, and kitchen utensils on the tables.

Gerrit Vlogtman brings out the floor plan. Like van der Maat and the rest of the board, he is actively involved in the extension and renovation of the center on a daily basis.”So far, we are happy about the progress, although we did have some delays at the start, such as late delivery of the base pannels. But that’s building. There is nothing you can do about it. We aim to start with the design in January”.

Screens

The floor plan shows the lay-out of the existing rooms and of the new spaces. With the exception of the movie theater, everything has been moved around. Offices, kitchen and toilet blocks have been shifted. The reception desk has been adapted.

‘It’s wider now, and with a slight rounding so that the desk volunteers are better visible”, van der Maat explains.”There will be new (touch)screens. The photo wall with showcases displaying paraphernalia from the Second World War will be replaced. There will be three niches where you can listen to stories without bothering the other visitors. The sound shower will be moved to the other side of the room to make place for the entrance to the experience room”.

Story of a soldier

So it will be an interactive room. Its design is based on the experience room in the Gevangenismuseum (prison museum) in Veenhuizen. Vlogtman: ”It’s a diorama in which you can choose and do your own subjects, for instance a soldier in hologram telling his story.The design will be executed by a Tilburg company”.

The two men and the board are especially proud of the extension. Fit for groups of about forty persons. With an entrance, kitchen block, wardrobe and beamer of its own. Here, too, there remains quite a lot of work to be done.

“We plan to open our doors by the end of February. And then, after a trial period of a month to cure all the growing pains, the official opening is 8 April“, van der Maat says. ‘And we are going to succeed in that. This project has really become our baby. Seeing with what we started, and what is being added now, we feel what we have achieved here, as a group of friends, is very special”.

 
Source: https://www.tubantia.nl/rijssen-holten/uitbreiding-van-infocentrum-canadese-begraafplaats-in-holten-ligt-op-koers~a6ad7060