A fire in Westwoud completely destroyed an old cold store on Tuesday afternoon. Although the damage was fortunately limited to the cold store, the suffering for the band The Mordants is great. All the musicians’ instruments were in the permanent rehearsal room.
On Tuesday afternoon, a little after one o’clock, the neighbor of owner Hans Sjerps saw smoke coming from the shed in which the refrigerated seat is located. “It was locked, because it is the band’s rehearsal room. Fortunately, because that is why it could not be opened and the fire actually extinguished itself. Otherwise oxygen would have been added and the damage would probably have been much greater. But you are shocked lamb.”
The fire brigade hardly had to intervene. The members of The Mordants arrived very quickly as it was their rehearsal afternoon. The sight was sad. “There is a lot of damage. Instruments, personal memories and furniture: everything is gone. A moment of sadness. That will take a while,” says bass guitarist Fried Holtkamp. “A big downer.”
The Mordants were founded in 1962 by band members Herman Peerdeman and Co Bruijns. In 1966 the band members went their separate ways, but from 1998 the band performs regularly again. On April 16, for example, a performance is planned in De Witte Valk in Zwaag. Whether that can continue is uncertain at the moment.