What do you do when the village hall, the place where your whole life takes place, urgently needs to be renovated but the bill is approaching a million euros? In Wjelsryp, Frisian, they have an answer to this: taking action together. On Friday the village went all out with a brass band through the streets and the sounding of the alarm bell.
The Doarpshûs Yn’e Mande has been the meeting place of Wjelsryp, a village with about 447 inhabitants, for generations. Associations use it every day: from the brass band and drama club to volleyball, badminton, handball and the billiards club. School children also receive gym lessons there and the village gathers here after births, weddings and funerals.
However, the building is old and poorly insulated. There is still only glazing, heat escapes through the roof and the energy bill is high. The total renovation and sustainability costs approximately one million euros.
Lottery
The municipality of Waadhoeke contributes about 30 percent of the costs. The rest has to be paid by the village itself. That’s why one lottery came up with a Toyota RAV4 hybrid as the main prize. So far, about 5,700 raffle tickets have been sold, but the organization hopes to reach 20,000.
It is not the first time that Wjelsryp has done something like this. In 1971 a large lottery was also held to build the village hall. Then a 6 year old girl won a car. “People here will never forget that,” says chairman Meinte Meinsma Heart of the Netherlands.
In the video above you can see how fellow villagers walk through the streets.
