Wim van Lanen from Boxmeer, at 81 years old, is the oldest braider who will participate in the NK Maasheggen plaiting next Sunday. He has already tried to win the coveted Golden Hip 17 times. But so far he has never succeeded.
Wim practices with his team in a meadow near the Maas near Beugen. He walks past the hedge they are going to braid. He and his team puzzle over how they get to work. “Look, these uprights are marked,” he says. Wim points to the hawthorn, which has a mark about every metre. “We will lay everything in between.”
Maasheggen plaiting is an old tradition around Boxmeer. The hawthorn hedges have been used for centuries as a separation between the meadows. By sawing the hawthorn bushes in half and placing them on the side, a very dense hedge is created. Since 2005 there is a Dutch championship.
“I’ve been around for a while.”
“Yes, I’ve been around for a while now,” says Wim. “I’ve been in the hedges for over twenty years and then you know them. You are engaged in an old profession, a tradition. And every week I do something in nature that keeps me physically busy. It contributes to something. When you exercise, you are moving. But all you do is lose energy. We’re leaving another hedge,” he laughs. “And it keeps me young.”
And this is how Wim has always participated in the National Championships: “I just never won it. I sometimes came second or third, they also gave me the oeuvre prize once. I think they did it out of pity, because I’ve never won.”
“You may not win a prize, but you did a great job.”
“You know”, Wim continues. “Very good hedges are rare. The handicap of the hedge can vary enormously. If you have a hedge that grows in all directions, it is very difficult to make a beautiful wickerwork. But even if we have bad hedges, we still make beautiful wickerwork. You may not win a prize, but you did a great job.”
At the age of 81, Wim is the oldest Maasheggenbraider to participate in the National Championships. If he doesn’t manage to win this year, he will just continue to braid in the coming years. “The way I feel now, I can go on for another ten years.”
