PVI activities 2022

Op 18 juni 2022 vond de vogelspotexcursie plaats onder leiding van Wim Bakker. Ellen Hemmink had deze excursie georganiseerd. Helaas kon zij er niet bij zijn vanwege het ontbreken van vervoer. Simon Engelberts heeft voor de groep wat feiten en waarnemingen bijgehouden en gedeeld in een word-document. Heel fijn, Simon. Dank je wel.

 Om 06.00 ‘s ochtends kwam een groep van 7 (checken!) early birds bij elkaar op de parkeerplaats aan het einde van de Wennewickweg (kruising Wennewickweg met Stratersdijk), Haaksbergen.

GPS coördinaten: 52.1211, 6.7909. Wim heeft de excursie met passie geleid. De deelnemers waren enthousiast. Na afloop is het ontbijt genuttigd bij de Haarmuhle in Duitsland.

Bird-watching excursion June 18th 2022

The bird-watching excursion took place on June 18, 2022, led by Wim Bakker. Ellen Hemmink had organized this excursion. Unfortunately, she could not be there due to lack of transportation. Simon Engelberts has kept track of some facts and observations for the group and shared them in a Word document. Very nice, Simon. Thank you.

At 06.00 a.m. a group of 7 early birds gathered at the parking lot at the end of the Wennewickweg (crossing Wennewickweg with Stratersdijk), Haaksbergen. GPS coordinates: 52.1211, 6.7909. Wim led the excursion with passion. The participants were enthusiastic. Afterwards, breakfast was served at the Haarmuhle in Germany.

Christmas market in Oberhausen

On Friday afternoon 16th December the bus from Babatours took us to the Christmas market near the CentrO.
It was a good location as it was a combination of Christmas market stalls, a very large and beautifully decorated shopping mall and nearby a museum, the GasoMeter.

Many regular participants of the christmas market could unfortunately not make it this time, but with some promotion within ITC (staff and students), we managed to fill the bus with 26 participants.
The christmas market stalls gave plenty of shopping and drink/eat options, opportunities to try those typical Christmas products and traditions you would like to experience at a German Christmas market.

We hope to see everyone again for next years trip, this time in ….? Suggestions as always are welcome

Report on Whiskey Tasting Evening

 As fall is here, it's time to enjoy some food and drinks to keep us warm!. This time, we invited our members to join us in an evening of fun, food and good whisky.

On Thursday, 8th December, the ITC restaurant provided the perfect environment to gather again to savour a selection of different whisky's in a tasting evening guided by Henri Goossen (https://goossenwhisky.com/).

Henri Goossen a whisky-tainer took us on an inspiring journey along the different whisky countries and explained the various types of whiskey. 

With 33 participants, we tasted seven different whiskeys to determine what the differences were with each and which one was our favourite. 
In between the different whiskeys, our ITC restaurant staff provided us with some tasty snacks in between to keep our stomachs filled. 

It was an enjoyable evening! So enjoyable even that we forgot to take pictures!

Report Gliding activity

Thanks to an ITC colleague who has connections to a Gliding association located at Twente Airport in Enschede, we managed to give our members the possibility to get into a gliding plane into the air and get a great overview of the Twente landscape from above.
Initially, the Gliding activity was supposed to happen in October 2021, but as gliding can only happen when certain requirements are met (good weather conditions, daylight, availability of gliding personnel), the day the event should have happened the weather conditions were not okay. Decided then to postpone it to the spring of 2022.

In May we organized another evening and this time the conditions were good so 20 participants could have their chance to get up into the air!! 

Because of the high demand there was a big waiting list, and with some leftover funds (as we could not organize much in Covid times) we organized another evening in September again to give the persons on the waiting list and some others to participate.
During the evenings participants made sure to film eachother going up in the air and taking pictures with the parachutes on. These were exchanged with eachother once all had their chance to fly.

They were two very successful events and we already have received many requests to organize them again in the future. 

TRACK CYCLING CLINIC

In 2016 we organized a track cycling clinic and after that event some participants frequently asked for another attempt. Finally in 2022 we managed to organize one in the national indoor track cycling venue Omnisport in Apeldoorn. Some 19 participants dared to pick up the gauntlet. In the dressing room the nervosity was felt because there were quite some participants who did not have the experience before. What to expect? Would it be difficult, dangerous, fun?

Near the track we had to register, get our starting number, collect and fit a bike and start drinking, because the venue is kept at a rather high temperature and low humidity such that the wooden track is maintained in good shape. After short instruction in which the special bike was introduced we all were split into three group, each with a track captain from the organization. That guy (yes, all guys) would assist us during the first ‘steps’ on the bike and the track. We started with cycling just above the grey/blue almost level section. Suddenly after a round or so cones appeared spaced evenly in distance. But soon the cones were moved further to the right, up on the gentle slope. Forcing us to take turns, gong up slope you would feel the bike slowed down and after the turn going down, quickly picking up speed. Oef, these first exercises were already asking for a lot of focus. As soon as the coaches signaled we were ready (and after a short break0 we started riding in line with the coach on the track gaining speed every round, going higher in the bends every round until we reached the upper section above the advertisements. Woow, did we really do that? Yes, one you would stick to the back wheel of your predecessor and just follow in line, you would actually be taken along and gain sufficient speed to go fast enough to go that high. For many a thrill to discover they did it. And that triggered quite some to go and continue on their own, round after round. Not knowing what to expect next . . .

To rehydrate another break was scheduled during which participants were energetically talking about their rides. The coaches then regrouped into 2 groups which would cycle half a round apart. With the coach on the outer side they would signal the front most cyclist to sprint to catch up with the other group. And not just once. Had you just caught up with the group in front, regained your breath a little, the other coach would signal to sprint again.

That was a strenuous activity, especially when it turned out that the whole group had accumulated into one and that with each signal you had to catch up a full round, while the group was cycling at 25-30k/hr or so. Probably only few have managed to do this, circling around the other who were trying and give their best. Satisfied, tired with legs that felt like concrete pillars once again we gathered. There were only 30 minutes left, so what could happen? Aargh a time trial of a full round with standing start. One after the other we were positioned at the starting line and given a signal to accelerate (on this single gear bike) and record our fastest time on the 220m track, two bends, trying our level best to stay in between the blue and red line (shortest distance). A couple of us sighed because they had given it all in the previous activity. Some still hade sufficient energy left. However when a coach did sprint 4 seconds faster than our fastest (Andor Engelberts) and even told us that the fastest pro’s ride 4 seconds faster than him, we were all staggered. To some extent.

Friday 24 June the ITC Sports Day was held at the Ontmoetingspark Rigtersbleek venue. Although next to the Rigtersbleek Korfbal venue where it was hosted in previous years, the shift brought some new challenges and also some new opportunities. The original idea of having it all organized concentrated around the center point was not realistic any longer because of huge reconstruction works going on. So the soccer competition was isolated from the other sports more or less.

Some field preparation was done by the Rigtersbleek manager, and he provided also a lot of material such that the volunteers could further prepare for the matches. SAB volunteers prepared nice area’s for the back-to-school activities. Amongst the activities were a lemon – on-a-spoon race and a sack-race.
Ton and Corné did turn the soccer field into WC certified jeu-de-boules courts, Dick used his fresh camping experience to set up the volleyball net in only 6min23s with great help of Ellen and Esther who where holding everything in its place. Corné certified the track Simon set out for the 40.00m sprint, and Job and Jan decided to split the soccer field into halves because they were not confident about the players’ stamina.

By then the weather forecast was still uncertain with heavy rain and thunder predicted later that afternoon, but nevertheless the participants and supporters of ITC took over the Rigtersbleek venue and our Dean held his opening speech on the large terrace with a nice view over the sports fields. The weather turned out to be very sunny the entire afternoon, lucky for us!

Because of the number of participants  (around 120) and teams it became a long but sporty afternoon (luckily we could fit in the running finals).The usual competitive spirit did heat up the barbecue, and the matches went seamlessly over in finishing the barbecue in record time.

The prize award session was taken care of by speaker Corné and Esther. For the record:

• Team “Roll the Ball” took the win in jeu-de-boules/Pétanque, with team “Microbialcolours” as best of the rest.
• In soccer “Saturday Group” and “Tukkerteam” competed in the finals with a win for “Saturday Group”.
•  Team “Mix and (s)mash” won the volleyball, just before” Serv-ivors”, scoring more than half of the total number of points to be earned for the full 7-team competition.
• The 40m sprint was won by Dirk (boys), Alice (girls), John (men, qualifying with 5.26s) and Yiwei (women, qualifying 6.82s). Marloes took the womens’ win in the 1500m, where Gerard led the mens’ pack the whole race. Congratulations!

The toughest competitors did occupy the terrace till after midnight, where the others went home for their well deserved rest and recovery.

Thanks everyone for taking part in this event and for making it a success!

For more pictures, please visit our Photo Gallery

Wine Tasting Evening 28th April 2022

 As spring is here, its time to enjoy some food and drinks!

On Thursday, 28th April, 17 participants joined us in the journey to taste a selection of 6 european wines. In between food was served that matched the wines perfectly. Marleen from Flavourite wine, our sommelier for the evening shared the story of each of the wines that we tasted: the region, the farmers en more. We were given a guide where we could write our experiences with each of the wines and determine the flavours with the help of the ”Aromawijzer”: did it taste or smell woody, earthy, fruity or perhaps like a “wet dog”?

 In the end our knowledge was put to the test in the form of a quiz and Jeroen was the winner!
An heartily thanks to both Marleen, our sommelier, but also to Frans from the ITC kitchen for matching the wines with some delicious food!

At the end of 2022 some 20 former staff and current staff gathered to say hello to each other and to say farewell to the year 2022 and to the ITC building at the Hengelosestraat. Coffee, tea and hot Choco milk were available as well as the traditional Krentenwegge. next to the usual chit chat, participants were also given the Atlas of the world of ITC to glance through. The contents also ignited discussion and questions.

The gathering was followed by an enticing presentation by Dr. Irene Manzella on the newly established Centre for Disaster Resilience. She introduced the highly relevant objective of the centre and the broad domain in which the centre is operating. Having quite some former staff with a financial background in the audience, obviously triggered the question at the end whether externally funded projects had already been acquired.

Before leaving the now old ITC building, some participants used the large mobile monitor in the central hall to get inspired by the new ITC building “Langezijds”. A photo album with more photos is available here.

See you all in 2023 in the new building