Work of our members

The sundial for Care Centre "De Voorde" in Coevorden was revealed on Thursday, 8 August 2003.
The design incorporates the history of the town of Coevorden and of De Voorde.

The name "De Voorde" is derived from "Coevorden". The town and its name have their origin in a ford in one of the streams that run there. In spring, cows were driven across to the meadows, where they remained until in autumn they went back to the stable.
The Dutch name for a ford in this peat and marsh area is voorde, and this cow-ford was called Coevoorde, later to become Coevorden.
Two of these old streams, now canalised, are Drostendiep (Sheriff's canal) and Schoonebeekerdiep (Fairbrook canal).

The sundial face shows the brook around the equinox line, with white and blue-green wavelets. The ford is in the middle where the summer and winter arc are closest together; this is De Voorde.

For this sundial, I have used colours symbolising the course of life and hour markers of diminishing size. As the day progresses, the markers become smaller, symbolising the years still left us.

Some details:
Dimensions: width 3.4m, height 2.4m (11' x 8')
Latitude: 52,6563° N, Longitude: 6,7421° E
Wall declination 12,806°

Bote Holman

More about this sundial is in the Bulletin of the Dutch Sundial Society for January 2004.