Here are collated our answers to visitors’ most frequently asked questions. If your question is not answered please let us know via the ‘Leave a Reply’ box at the bottom of this page.

Question 1: Can you tell me more about the people who become members of the Anglo-Netherlands Society?

Question 2:   “Hi, I am Dutch and run a business in the UK. I would like to get in touch with other businesses in my area that are Dutch or have Dutch owners/employees. Does the Anglo-Netherlands Society organise any networking events?”

Question 3: Can the Anglo-Netherlands Society help with financial support for : my study / our tour / to start my business?

Question 4: I live in England, am a Dutch citizen and need help, for example claiming my overseas pension / allowances / benefits, can you point me in the right direction, please?

Question 5: Where can I learn Dutch?

Question 6: Where can I buy ‘drop’ – or other Dutch delicacies?

Question 7: Will your Society organise anything on the occasion of Koningsdag / Leiden’s Ontzet / Sinterklaas / Oud en Nieuw?

 

Hereunder the answers :

Answer to question 1: With pleasure, although the best way to find out whether one feels at home with a Society is to join in our events and make up one’s mind at the end of the first year.

There is an approximately equal number of Dutch and British members, ranging from university students to retired people. Some work (or have worked) for one of several Anglo-Dutch concerns, other worked in the Netherlands for a while and like to keep in touch this way, and there are those who have come to work for a British company, and use the Society to learn more about their hosts and the country they live in.

Above all, people join the Society because it presents an opportunity to meet like-minded individuals. Geographically, members can be found all over the land, but the majority of our events are held in London, and perhaps half our members live within 50 miles of Hyde Park Corner.

 

Answer to question 2: The Anglo-Netherlands Society exists to promote the social, artistic, literary, educational, scientific and other non-party-political interests in common to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The Society reaches its members by organising social functions (including dinners, lectures and recitals) and by arranging visits to exhibitions, concerts and places of interest. Members discuss various interests and perhaps mention their line of work on occasion, but the emphasis is on the event in hand, not networking.

There is however the opportunity to place an advertisement in the Quarterly Newsletter, our very reasonable rates are available upon request, placement is subject to acceptance by the Hon. Newsletter Editor and approval by the Society’s Council.

For business networking opportunities consider the following:

1. The Netherlands-British Chamber of Commerce www.nbcc.co.uk has several hundred Dutch-related businesses amongst its members.
2. The monthly NL borrel www.nlborrels.com has a Facebook group.
3. The Nederlandse City Lunch Nederlandse City lunch invites a prominent speaker from the Netherlands to give an introduction. Preceded by drinks, opportunity to ask relevant questions and buffet lunch afterwards; provides an opportunity to keep up with study friends or perhaps highlight your ventures in a non-intrusive way.
4. You’ll already have set up a profile on for example Facebook, Linked-in or similar?

 

Answer to question 3: The Society does not have funds to distribute, neither its own nor on behalf of others. A large part of the annual budget is covered by ‘benefits in kind’ from our Corporate Patrons, who have indicated that they would consider it inappropriate if the Society were to apply its membership income to anything but running the Society.

In historical times the Society organised the 1929 exhibition of paintings, London; the 1947 exhibition “Dutch Conversation Pieces of the 18^th & 19^th Centuries” (together with The Allied Circle), and in 1950 published “Diplomatic relations between Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, 1714-1721”, by Ragnhild Marie Hatton, professor of International History at the London School of Economics.

 

Answer to question 4: The Social Work Coordinator at the Netherlands Benevolent Society “Koning Willem Fonds” should be able to help with information. Their website is at www.koningwillemfonds.org.uk

 

Answer to question 5: Teaching Dutch – given the small area where it is spoken – is seldom a priority. However, in the UK Dutch basics as a foreign language are taught at several schools, colleges of further education, and adult education centres.

The Dutch Centre, in the City of London, organises courses in Dutch. www.dutchcentre.com

At university level, Dutch can be studied at University College London, at Sheffield University, and at Nottingham.  But in general students prefer to move to the Netherlands for a more total immersion in language and culture.

 

Answer to question 6: We know of several shops in the UK, there is a list of UK- and web-based shops which deliver by mail order on https://anglo-dutch.org.uk/shops .  And if you know them well enough, your Dutch friends will be happy to indulge your request to bring a small quantity upon their return from the Netherlands.  There is also a large Dutch-oriented shop in Hereford’s ‘Left Bank Village’, linked to the Albert Heijn grocery chain in the Netherlands.

 

Answer to question 7: The unfortunate answer is that we do not, one needs to book and pay for the venue well in advance, it takes rather a lot of time to organise each event, and prospective attendees seem reluctant to commit themselves to participate or bear any cost until the very last moment.  Having said that, the Dutch Centre, 7 Austin Friars, City of London, is a focal point for Dutch activities, visit their website at www.dutchcentre.com .

Please note that the events mentioned in the answer to question 7 are not organised by the Dutch Centre but by Vereniging Neerlandia W : www.neerlandia.org .
This clarification added 2014-11-19 at the request of Marianne Denney.

 

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