Unveiling restored stained glass window
Representative RKSV Driel – Frans Essers
18 September 2020

Dear members present,

It is really very special that I can stand here.
No, I am not a veteran.
I was not involved in or experienced the war.
I was also not involved in the Christmas card action of the young people of Driel in 1946.
I am from the time when everything went a little better.
No, I do not represent any official organization
I am just the representative of a football club.
A football club that has an extremely special relationship with the Polish parachutists.
I find it a great honour that I can stand here.

In this special time when many meetings have been cancelled that we can be together is also special.
Or is it perhaps not so special?
Don’t we have a very special reason to be here together.
Don’t we share more with each other than it might seem.
Yes, I think that we share more than many others may think.
We find ourselves at this moment in very special times.
Now …76 years ago the times that people found themselves in were also very special.
Times that remained anchored in the memory of those times and commemorations in later years.
Memories on the negative that is called “war”.
So now we in freedom the events that we never want to experience.
And also … we do not stay still long enough to reflect how…., negative experiences positive consequences can have.
For example Father Poelman, who at the end of the war with the Parachute Brigade still present in our village, was very much Concerned about the future of the young people of the village.
Pastor Poelman who ….. maybe here where we now stand  …. tried to make his ideas accessible to the young people of Driel in a way that offered them a future. A future with perspective.
A future that together with you the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade  was made possible.

75 years ago the war came to an end and we could feel ourselves free.
We were allowed to become united again.
And immediately that became possible a sports club was started up.
The word unify perfectly describes what Pastor Poelman and those who worked to establish our club, Mr Baltussen, Mr Kock and Mr Hoogsteder had envisaged.
Namely: active together;
to have an objective together;
and primarily to be sportive.

Just as General Stanislaw Sosabowski and his men also had done.
Working together, keeping strong together and working towards one goal together.
And for them the goal was “Freeing Warsaw and building up a future“.
For those who developed our club it was that: feel free and embrace the future that is offered to you.
Those who founded our club chose for the colours white and red as club colours. The colours of the Polish flag.
There on the breast came the “V” for victory.
Before the first commemoration in the village by the committee Driel-Poland the football club honoured with the choice of its club colours the Polish liberators. Later a parachute was added to the club logo.
And that image is inseparably bound to our club RKSV Driel.
Even in the higher levels of the national football federation this is considered very special.
The Royal Dutch Football Federation (KNVB) gave special attention in September 2019.
In a deep article about the special relationship between our club and the Polish Parachute Brigade.

Under the heading RSKV Driel will never forget the Polish liberators”  a detailed description was made of the relationship between 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade and our football club RSKV Driel.
Here attention was first given to the club colours that were chosen when our club was set up.
Further in the article there was the comment

40 years later a parachute was added to the club logo. That is an image that sticks when you walk around RSKV Driel sports park. From coffee cups to beer tapping. And from champion flag to jubilee shirt”  (end of quotation)

The connection cannot be given more clearly.
Our club RKSV Driel stands for Roman Catholic Sports Society Driel. And is therefore not just for football.
Young people should be made aware that sporting together and doing things together is the best medicine to come to a better and more healthy future.
Given the very exceptional time we are now experiencing (Corvid 19) the commemorations of 75 years freedom will not take place.
This ceremony will take place in small groups which we find is appropriate. Because at that time it already was about young people and the future.
The future doesn’t stand still.

Our liberators showed us this in 1945.
That showed Driel’s children in 1946 with their Christmas card action to the Polish liberators.
That showed the Polish military by their contribution to the rebuilding of the destroyed boys school that had previously provided them with shelter.
Mrs Cora Baltussen showed this by her continued  support for the 1st Polish Independent Parachute Brigade and their General Stanisław Sosabowski.
That the future hasn’t remained still can be clearly seen from our club RKSV Driel.
Pastor Poelman and those who established our club wanted to give young people an active and sportive future and the Polish veterans provided the financial contribution which enabled the building of a new school —- where young people would get a future and a perspective.
And this in addition to what they had already done in the wartime struggle in and around Driel.

75 freedom …… 75 years RKVS Driel
These are two milestones that cannot be separated from each other.
Two milestones that are bound together in a window that we will shortly see in its full glory.
A window that stood and stands for appreciation
Appreciation that is getting a new life through RKSV Driel.
A window that will get a future here in this Information Centre.

Our club with its white red heart and sheltered by a parachute has in the              75 years of its existence always had an important place and been given social recognition in the Driel’s community.
This can partly be seen in the large number of young people in our club. Young people who are also present during the annual commemoration.
Also today they are present.
In this way our club shows its social involvement and commitment.
Our social commitment can be partly seen in the restauration of this unique stain glass window.

75 year freedom ….. 75 year RKSV Driel
A Christmas card initiative of the young people
A hopeful reaction from the Polish military.
A remaining and continuing memory in glass
Coloured glass that as the light changes calls up changing feelings
Vibrations of history reaching into the future
This is beautiful to see
It is wonderful

And everything that has happened and taken place
And everything that touches us and joins us together, I remain and I think many as well

Look around with wonder and keep wondering.

Thank you for your attention
Frank Essers
On behalf of RKSV Driel