In 1975 I became a member of the Volkstuinvereniging in Malburgen on the Malburgse Veerdijk, also known as the Bakenhof. I helped my father-in-law, who had been a member since 1957, to dig into his garden because he could no longer do that himself. But that was not allowed by the chairman, I had to become a member first and I did that then. But I immediately wanted to be on the waiting list for my own allotment, because at that time there were more people who wanted a garden. ' 'The association is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. It was founded in March 13, 1940. Just before the war, people took a garden out of necessity to feed mouths. At that time, the association had 70 members; coming from the Pisces neighborhood, the first district in the southern district. I heard from my father-in-law that pigs used to be kept in the gardens. They gave the waste from the garden to the pig. In the 1940s and 45s with the bombing, pigs that had been hit were dead in the barns. But keeping animals in the garden was no longer allowed because of the hair. " 'I used to speak in the garden when I was a good Catholic if you were not working in the fields on Sundays. I once walked past my garden, looked around a bit and secretly removed the weeds with my hands. The chairman had seen it nicely. On Sundays he always went to see if anyone was working in the garden. I told him I didn't know, but of course I did. Nowadays Saturday and Sunday are the busiest days in the garden. ” 'My first two gardens were actually rotten gardens, because you were bothered every time it was high water. I even had ducks in my garden once. I was at the front of the dike and the seepage water was sometimes annoying. When the dike was widened and some gardens left, things got a little better. My third garden was the best garden in the complex. At that time I was a lot higher than the other gardens, fortunately I was the only one who was no longer bothered by the water. ' 'In 2000, the allotment complex on the Malburgse Veerdijk had to make way for the planned new construction. Eventually we got a new place here at the Eimerssingel-Oost in Immerloo. I like it here, but it is different from the old garden. You meet better here. In the old garden you had several side paths. I saw a lot of people here that I just never saw on the old complex. But somewhere it was more fun in the old garden than here. You were more sheltered there and you had more greenery. There is less destruction here than in the old garden. Occasionally it happens that they break some windows, but in the old garden all the glass was regularly destroyed. The clubhouse is still the same; we still play cards there. ' 'Next to me is Nico, an Italian man, next to whom I have had a garden for 25 years; in the old garden and here again. If I can help that man, he's a little older, I will. And we exchange plants with each other. Nico grows special vegetables such as artichokes and Italian lettuce. My wife and I love his Italian salad. ” Henk Moerker