News

Pupils and teachers of Almere College in Dronten and board members of the 4 May Remembrance Foundation Dronten were in Edinburgh from 7 to 11 November to attend the Remembrance Day commemoration at Stewart's Melville College. The reason for this is the connection between the two schools in the person of William Middleton Ward. William Ward was formerly a student at Stewart's Melville College. He died in World War II and the propeller of his plane forms the monument in Dronten.

On May 6, 2023, the annual Tattoo took place on the Meerpaalplein in Dronten. Three corps presented a total of five shows.

On May 4, 2023, the 59th commemoration of the dead took place in Dronten. The large number of people on the square, the invited guests, the wreath laying, the music and singing, the poem and the speech were impressive. 

Before it became 2 minutes of silence at Meerpaalplein on May 4, city poet Marjolein Westendorp recited the poem she wrote around the National Committee May 4 and 5's annual theme "Living with War'.

Omroep Flevoland's documentary "Never Unprepared" tells the story of Scottish bomb aimer William Ward who lost his life in World War II. William Ward was one of the crew members of the Lancaster ED 357, whose propeller forms the Kite Monument in Dronten. Edinburgh history teacher David Clarke researched this former student at his school; Stewart's Melville College. David discovered that Ward crashed near what is now Dronten.

Board members Jan Benning and Bart Doeze Jager gave a presentation on May 2 about the work of the 4 May Remembrance Foundation Dronten and the story of the Lancaster ED 357 in Coloriet residential care center De Regenboog.

Basisschool De Tamarisk from Biddinghuizen has taken over the adoption of the 'Vliegersmonument' from Basisschool Het Wilgerijs.

The Zuiderzee Swimmers organized today the swimming competition for group 8 pupils of elementary school from the municipality of Dronten for the 'Airgunnerstrofee'. About 150 children from 8 elementary school participated. It was a successful afternoon!

The 4 May Memorial Dronten Foundation has completed the program for the Remembrance Day on May 4, 2023. For the first time this year, no Airgunners are present at the commemoration. The transition to a time of commemoration without Airgunners has thus begun.

On Wednesday afternoon, February 22, we said goodbye to Airgunner Ron Powers in a memorial meeting and part of his ashes were scattered at the De Wissel cemetery in Dronten.

Since 2019, we have been in contact with history teacher Dave Clark from Stewart's Melville College in Edinburgh, Scotland. William Ward, one of the crew members of the Lancaster ED 357 of the Vliegersmonument, was a student at this school. From this contact arose the desire to connect young people from this school with young people from a school in Dronten. This worked.