Apeldoorn’s Orange Heroes

Over the coming weeks, the Netherlands will once again be decked out in orange. On TV, in town squares, in living rooms – we know the drill. We hope, cheer and analyse as if we were out on the pitch ourselves. Football brings people together. We come together and cheer for the Oranje as one.

But in Apeldoorn, the colour orange means something else as well. Because whilst supporters are focused on the matches, our Management & Maintenance department is working on something we often take for granted: a local authority that simply runs smoothly. Clean streets, well-tended green spaces, safe bridges and everything that seems to be well organised as a matter of course. Without us realising that there’s a whole organisation behind it all.

And that is exactly why our other ‘orange heroes’ deserve to be put in the spotlight. These are true professionals, with their feet in the clay and their sleeves rolled up. Or rather: wearing boots, a helmet, work gloves and, at times, a good dose of patience with the weather. Because they simply carry on working come rain or shine.

Their work is anything but monotonous. For instance, Dimitris is perched high up in a tree, whilst Cees literally dives underground to work on the sewers. And whilst Sebastiaan keeps the artworks neatly clean, Gejo ensures that traffic flows safely by putting the right road signs in the right places.

Outdoor work also means that the work follows the seasons. In autumn, the leaves need to be cleared away, and in winter a team is on standby with gritting lorries as soon as the roads become slippery. And in spring and summer? Then everything revolves once again around growth, flowering and maintenance. Always with the same aim: to keep Apeldoorn liveable, safe and tidy.

It is a team of around 300 people, representing a surprisingly wide range of disciplines, but with one thing in common: they are all passionate about Apeldoorn.

So whilst the orange of the World Cup is colouring our screens and streets, there is another shade of orange that we mustn’t forget. The orange of our people out there. Day in, day out. And let’s be honest: things do go wrong from time to time. The work carried out by the Management & Maintenance team is, and always will be, done by people. We can be proud of our orange heroes, because without them our local authority would look very different indeed!

So, are you watching the Dutch national team over the coming weeks? If so, do spare a thought for our ‘orange heroes’ in Apeldoorn. If you see them at work, please feel free to give them a thumbs-up, a wave or a nod of appreciation. Their work deserves a round of applause too.