DUTCH TREAT
Page 49
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MY addictions include Amsterdam, travel by water and traditional jazz. I was able to indulge all three last weekend by courtesy of P. J. G. Van Dooms, head of Van Doomes Bedrijfswagenfabriek OAF BV, who invited me to join the company's golden jubilee celebrations.
The visit to Holland also allowed me to meet again my old friend David Mansell, formerly managing director of DAF Trucks in Great Britain and now a director of the parent company in charge of sales and marketing world wide. Although based in Eindhoven, he continues to commute to and from his home in Sunningclale, which takes little longer than the journey to central London by road.
He recalled the humble beginnings 50 years ago of a trailer building business founded by the Van Doorne brothers which developed into a great chassis manufacturing organisation. "We are all set for the second half century and it will be even more exciting for all of us," he said.
Alas, not for me. I don't expect to become a centenarian.
One of the highlights of the weekend was an evening's cruise in a 67-year-old paddle steamer, Kapitein Kok. She maintained a regular cargo and passenger service between Schoonhoven and Rotterdam from 1911 to 1948.
Stripped of her vitals, she served as a floating restaurant at Ludwigshafen in Germany from 1950 until 1976, when Wijnand Key, her present owner, rescued her from ignominy and restored her to operational condition.
She was renamed after the captain of her last voyage to Ludwigshafen 28 years ago. Although Mr Key is a musician and ,,not a naval architect, he managed to improve on the original paddle design. He installed a DAF engine to look after the electrical services.
A Mississippi touch was supplied by the Lazy River Jazz Band, who belted out Dixieland jazz with polished exuberance, recalling some of the celebrated American jazz players of the period when the Van Doorne brothers were starting up in business.
Mr Van Doorne was one of those infected by the pounding rhythm and he stomped with the rest. He had just returned from America where his wife, a keen golfer like himself, had hole.d in one for the second time in her life. He has yet to achieve that distinction, but he basks in her reflected glory.
He is an economist and a son of one of the founding fathers, and thinks well enough of Britain to send one of his sons to school in t ngland.