It was a moving occasion. Yesterday’s lunch turned into a charity funfest, with Sue the Hulphond being introduced to Peter van der Linden, and to the rest of us, by her foster family. She will likely be placed as a wheelchair user support dog in the next few months, and Peter is invited also to the handover ceremony.

Louise promoted the Nacht van Vluchteling walk she is undertaking in June. Guests spontaneously donated 122 Euros of  cash, and there were several pledges to contribute, which you can do by donating to the usual CADS account, with the notation Louise – refugee walk, and also by accompanying her. I received a thank you note from Louise as follows:

Dear fellow CADS,

Thank you for the wonderful support that you gave me today at the CADS lunch, both financially in the form of €122 in cash donations, and spiritually with your warm words of encouragement. As many of you know via Mike’s posts, I and a few friends will be joining thousands of people on the 17th June to take part in the Nacht van de Vluchteling – The Night of the Refugees.

Team ‘Hunters et al’ are trying to raise €500 to donate to Stitching Vluchteling by walking 10km through the streets of Amsterdam around midnight. Others will be walking distances of 20km and 40km, all trying to raise awareness for the plight of refugees. Over €500,000 has been pledged so far by those walking and their supporters such as yourselves.

With grateful thanks to you all and others who have donated via JustGiving.

Louise 🙂

We also had reassuring messages of support for UK/NL trade from Alderman Peter Litjens, who kindly stood in for the mayor who is unwell at the moment. Peter asked us to help ensure that the informal ties between Amsterdam and London, and the two countries generally, are strengthened during this process and that we continue to recognise and support one another as friends and allies.