Waling van Geest used to be a leading Westlands fruit and vegetable export company. Many of those working in fruit and vegetables learnt their trade there. Last Saturday they all met up again during a reunion. The initiative came from Perry van der Meer, and along with his former colleagues Ingrid van den Bos and Coral van Hagen they found as many ex-colleagues as possible. And successfully so, as around sixty 'Waling van Geest-ers' were present at the Cultuurschuur in Monster.
Naturally a lot of memories were revisited about the 'good old' times with the export company, which was incorporated into The Greenery in 2001. Many people are still in the trade, although many employees fanned out over other companies over the years. Others, like Jan Schooker, have already retired: "I was employed by Waling Van Geest in 1961. In those days we were one of the big boys, along with Van Dijk Delft, Minnaar and Van Daalen. We did a lot in England in particular. We were the first to seal cucumbers for the UK."