Bert Verbakel Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau

We are very proud of the owner of our company Bert Verbakel who received a royal decoration on April 26th from the hands of the Mayor of Meijerijstad and was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

Bert has been a busy man all his life. Besides being the founder and owner of L. Verbakel B.V. in 1971, he has always been involved in all sorts of things and is not a man of sitting still.

For example, Bert was a co-founder and long-time board member of the KLW Association, an association of Classic Agricultural Equipment with 800 members. He is still closely involved in various activities they organize, including the Rural Festival. http://www.klw-vereniging.nl/

In addition, Bert is founder, owner and passionate tour guide at the museum Hoeve Strobol in Nijnsel. For years he and many volunteers have been making an effort to offer visitors a beautiful day by giving guided tours in the museum of old crafts. Also the annual harvest festival in the first weekend of August is visited by hundreds of people. http://www.hoevestrobol.nl/ http://www.hoevestrobol.nl/oogstfeest-2017/

Bert also organizes the children's baking project in his museum. All 4th grade classes from the former municipality of Sint-Oedenrode are then shown how bread used to be made. http://www.hoevestrobol.nl/kinderbak-project-2017/

For many years now Bert has been a volunteer at the Parish Heilige Oda in Nijnsel. Bert is involved with, among other things, the construction of the Saint Anthony Chapel, the restoration of the Antonius van Padua Church, and the renovation and layout of the Procession Park. Bert was also closely involved in the transfer of six statues of saints from the Eindhoven St. Gerardus Church to the church in Nijnsel.https://www.heiligeodaparochie.nl/3915/eerste-stee...https://www.heiligeodaparochie.nl/4739/bezoek-open...

In the late 80s Bert was a board member of the carnival society De Heikneuters in Nijnsel. Bert was one of the founders of the Nijnsel Bonte Avonden.

Co-founder and chairman of Buurtvereniging De Zandhoef in Nijnsel.

We are proud of Bert's award and hope he can enjoy it for a long time to come!