Bert Lavrijsen from Nuenen has been appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau. He devoted himself to the swimming world for more than fifty years. During that time, he invented a clever trick that made swimming pools affordable for smaller municipalities.
He received the medal from mayor Houben for his decades-long career in the swimming world. In 1972 he started as manager of the Sportfondsenbad Nuenen. Fifteen years later he made the switch to the swimming pool and recreation group LACO Recreatie, where Lavrijsen was an independent entrepreneur and general manager. More than a million children have now obtained their swimming certificates at LACO.
Affordable swimming pools
During his career he also invented a model with which sports facilities remained affordable, namely by taking over the ground lease from the municipality. As a result, the risk of exploitation no longer lies with the municipality. This kept many municipal swimming facilities in small municipalities afloat.
For these achievements he was awarded a medal at ‘t Strandhuys on Friday during his farewell to the swimming world.
Source: Studio040
Here is an explanantion of the Dutch honours system
Translated by: Shanthi Ramani
