Treasurer Harm Mulder of the village hall in Linde calculates a deficit of twenty thousand euros for 2023. At least, if there is no help from the government. “Then we will absolutely make it and then that will mean the end of the village hall,” says Mulder.
More than half of the village and community centers in Drenthe are experiencing financial problems due to rising energy prices. Some locations are falling over. The village hall in Linde still has an energy contract until the end of the year. Then it gets exciting.
The pietengym in the gymnasium of the village hall is in full swing. Little pietjes who throw packages through a basket, color drawings and do cartwheels on the long mat. Manager Freddy Piel provides the parents with coffee. “In the village hall, almost everything is about sports and games and meetings,” he says. He has been taking care of everything in the building for 23 years. But maybe not for much longer.
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