AGM – Visit to Thuin and Lobbes

May 20, the weather forecast was very bad, with rain and thunderstorms forecasted for the whole day, but almost everyone registered turned up and the day turned out much better than what we could hope for.

We met up in front of the Tourist office in Thuin which is located on the central square next to the belfry. Two guides took care of us and we started off by climbing the 192 steps to the top of the belfry tower where we could look out in four directions over the town, the surrounding landscape and the river Sambre. We were lucky not to be there anymore when the large bells started to play.

Then followed a walk around the town with nice old streets and its famous hanging gardens. After about 90 minutes walk the guides brought us back to the main square en we recuperated our cars to go for lunch at the “Relais de la Haute Sambre”.

The first dish was a good pâté with salad. The main course was fish waterzooi with four different fishes and shrimps. When we had finished the lunch the annual general meeting was held.

After the meeting we took the cars to drive in to the Collégiale  Saint Ursmer in Lobbes. It was first built in 823 as a funeral church by an abbot from the local abbey. It is located high on a hill overlooking the town and the valley with the Sambre river. We got a very extensive history of the church which has been rebuilt in the 9th century, the 10th century and in the 20th century. The abbey has been demolished except for one building which still serves as a hospital. The location of Lobbes was very strategic during different historical periods.

The last point of the agenda was a garden next to the church with plants that were grown by the monks in medieval times. The heavy rain came when we had lunch and when we were in the church; so in all we had an interesting and pleasant day together with National Trust friends.

Bo Dahlqvist