Bond of the Vermeulen Family

Background:

Since it is not possible to involve all the members of the Bond in one meeting, it was decided to organize regional meetings.

GOAL:

• To inform members about the progress of the Bond. To obtain members' input,
• To recruit persons who qualify for membership,
• To promote family ties between Vermeulens and Vermeulen descendants.

WHO MAY ATTEND:

• All members, their spouses and family members.
• All Vermeulen descendants of either of the two ancestors, their spouses and family members.

FIRST REGIONAL MEETING - GANSBAAI.

The first Vermeulen regional gathering was held on Saturday, 16 December 2000, in the Overberg Boothuis in Gansbaai.
The meeting concluded with a church service in the Dutch Reformed Church, Gansbaai on 17 December 2000.

The event was attended by 63 people (Vermeulens and Vermeulen descendants).

Of the 63 people, 28 (40%) were registered members of the League.

The attendees considered the event to be extremely successful and therefore requested that regional meetings become a regular institution.

The Management of the Bond wishes to thank all those present for their presence.

SECOND REGIONAL MEETING - CARNARVON

The second regional meeting was held on Friday, 13 April 2001 in the Dutch Reformed Church Youth Center, Carnarvon.

Although it was held during the Easter weekend, management is pleased with the turnout.

The following results were obtained:

• 35 persons attended
• 15 (of the 35) were Bond members
• 5 new members and one friend joined
• a profit of R99.42 was made by the Bond.

The opportunity was also used to visit cemeteries at Britstown, Carnarvon and Loxton.
This was done to check information that has already been recorded and to obtain possible new information.

THIRD REGIONAL MEETING - PRETORIA

The third regional meeting was held on Saturday, October 20, 2001 at the Pioneers Open Air Museum, Pretoria.
(On the site that originally belonged to the Pretoria VERMEULEN pioneers).

Although the event was widely advertised, attendance was extremely disappointing. Even the rain could not be used as an excuse - both the meeting and the braai were held under cover.

Fifteen people, who confirmed that they were going to attend, did not show up.

A further fifteen members that live in and around Pretoria did not attend the event, apologize or made contact.

The following results were obtained:

• 35 persons attended
• 17 (of the 35) were members of the Bond
• 2 (of the 35) were friends of the Bond
• 18 new members were recruited
• a Nett loss of R18.14 was recorded.

FOURTH REGIONAL MEETING - CARLTONVILLE

The fourth regional meeting was held on September 7, 2002 in Carletonville.
Albie and Yvonne VERMEULEN made their facilities at 12 Lomati Street, Carletonville, available to us.

The following results were obtained:

• 30 persons attended the meeting
• 14 (of the 30) were members of the Bond
• 8 new members joined
• a surplus of R16.12 was recorded.

FIFTH REGIONAL MEETING - BLOEMFONTEIN

The fifth regional meeting took place on Saturday 31 May 2003 in Bloemfontein.

The following results were obtained:

• 45 persone attended the meeting
• 14 (of the 45) were members of the Bond
• 7 new members joined
• a profit of R20.21 was recorded.

SIXTH REGIONAL MEETING - KLERKSDORP

The sixth regional meeting took place on 18 June 2005 at the Senwes Lapa, Klerksdorp. The General Members' Meeting was held first followed by the commemoration of the five-year existence of the Bond.

The proceedings were attended by 23 persons of whom 13 were Bond members.

During the celebrations, the first print of the Family Register (2004) was introduced.  Michael Johannes (Mike) Vermeulen donated two copies which were presented to Izak and Johan Vermeulen.

Three of our current board members, Izak, Zelma and Stoffel attended the event.

SEVENTH REGIONAL MEETING - BLOEMFONTEIN

The seventh regional meeting took place on Saturday 5 Nov 2011 in Bloemfontein.

The meeting and Members' Meeting were partly sponsored by the following Vermeulens:

1. Eric Vermeulen of Vrystaat batterye
2. Nico Vermeulen, of Nico Vermeulen wines, Paarl
3. Nico Vermeulen from Strubensvalei
4. Marius Vermeulen from Pretoria

75 people attended the event which made this one of the most successful meetings yet.

'Die Meulenaar' (#1 of 2012), which can be found on the "Newsletters" page of this website, contain details with this event.

The upgraded version of the Family Register (2011) was introduced at this meeting.

FAK-Genealogy Expo on 9.04.2022 at VOORTREKKER MONUMENT PRETORIA

I would like to thank our exhibitors Nico, Cloete and Stoffel Vermeulen who manned the stall. Stoffel's wife Nikki also accompanied him. The cold and rain did not deter both them and the many visitors from attending the event.

Here are the comments from our exhibitors:
"Our stall competed well with others , on the contrary I think if there was a competition we had been in the top 3. The use of technology was a great idea and many of the others also made use of it. The Powerpoint Presentation that Cloete put together was excellent and attracted considerable attention. Stoffel's laptop program was also of great assistance to answer queries quickly.
Some 40 people not all vermeulens have visited our stall and our liaison with other families may result in us being able to exchange information with them in the future.

What struck us was the real festive feeling, nice chat between the different bonds and our advice to some of the younger Bonds. We also had two instances where emerging Bonds that didn't exhibit came to take pictures with us."

Click to view the Powerpoint presentation as dispayed at the expo: