For a project about women from Boekel in the 1920s and 1960s, Martha van Eerdt is looking for women who recognise themselves in the class photo from 1964/1965.
“I grew up in a Catholic village and in my time there were still separate boys’ and girls’ schools. By chance, I was sent a class photo with the story of a classmate who lost her mother when she was in my class. Now neither of us lives in Boekel, as our village is called. We realised how different our lives are from those of our mothers. My mother lived through the advent of water and electricity (and also the internet). Women of her generation had to stop working when they married. Boekel is a farming village, there was only one school, and our hypothesis is that by digging up the stories of our mothers we can get a picture of how ordinary women from Boekel lived in the 20s and 60s of the last century and what their dreams were. We want to keep their history alive by discussing it with their grandchildren, women (and men) of today”.
Stories are collected by interviewing classmates from that time. On the photo are 40 girls who were in the fifth and sixth grade in 1964-1965. Are you on the photo yourself or do you recognise someone on the photo? If so, please contact Martha via martha.vaneerdt@hotmail.com