Terneuzen Things to Do

The coast of The Netherlands has great sand-beaches. In the picture you see a sunset behind a container-ship. The black lines in the front are two rows of wooden wave-breakers. In wintertime there can be quite severe storms, which are the origin of hugh waves who dammege the dunes and take sand of the beaches.
The wave-breakers are one of the means used in preventing that.

Sailing or just looking at the many sailing ship that have Terneuzen as there home port, or are just sailing by.
It's location on the bank of the Westerschelde* makes Terneuzen an ideal starting point for extensive sailing trips, on inland waterways as well as on the North-Sea. A weekend sailing trip to London is not unusual!


*The Westerschelde is the sea-arm connecting the Belgian port of Antwerp with the North-Sea, with an averidge width of 4 kilometers.

The second largest jazz-festival in The Netherlands (the largest is the North-Sea jazz-festival in The Hague) takes place in the first week of june in Terneuzen. Many of the big names in jazz are to be seen and of course heard in the open air but mostly in Porgy & Bess.

Here follows the story:

PORGY en BESS: FROM LUNCHROOM TO JAZZ 'TEMPLE'

Over the years jazzclub Porgy en Bess has developed into one of the oldest and foremost jazzclubs in Holland and Belgium; critics have even used the word 'jazztemple' to describe the club which is located in Terneuzen, Holland - 15 minutes from the Belgian border.

It all began in 1944 when Frank Koulen, from Surinam, arrived in Holland with the allied forces to liberate our country. He literally marched into Terneuzen trumpeting his horn, ahead of the troups. He had come to stay.... He fell in love with a local girl, Vera van den Bruelle, and subsequently married her. In 1957 he started a lunchroom, right opposite his inlaws' woolshop. Porgy en Bess was born.


Soon the cakes and gateaux were swapped for beer and the lunchroom changed into a meltingpot of music, with jazz being Frank's favourite. He introduced the first jazz-streetparade in Holland - a happening he had first experienced in the United States when joining the allied forces. Over the years he succeeded in bringing the most renowned names on the international jazzscene to Terneuzen (how he did it remains a mystery to a lot of people - one thing is sure, there wasn't a lot of money involved).


After he passed away in 1985 a number of friends started the 'Porgy en Bess Foundation' and bought the club. From that time on all the people working in Porgy en Bess do so on a voluntary basis; that's the only way to keep the club alive. All of this under the management and supervision of Maja Lemmen, the foundation's only official 'employee'. The volunteers come from all walks of life and represent three generations of devoted Porgy en Bess and/or jazz fans. You will see a doctor doing the sound, a pianotuner cleaning the restrooms and an engineer, painter and lawstudent behind the bar. Or a social worker, nurse, mechanic, business(wo)man or journalist. Because they love the club and it's music and want that to stay alive...

Porgy en Bess provides seating for appr. 250 or standingroom for appr. 400 persons. The most important area, the stage (for some it will be the bar), features a beautiful Steinway grand piano. Furthermore the club has several (jazz)drumsets and bass/guitar amps at it's disposal as well as professional sound and light equipment.