Together with Maurice D’hondt, Ivo Roegiest returns to Sleidinge with the plans for the new machine that would guarantee Maurice Ghijsbrechts his success.
With the monopoly on “billot” fruit caskets in Belgium, the orders come in and the profits are huge. They are huge enough for Maurice Ghijsbrechts to keep his promise and in 1926 a first step to his ambitious plans has been completed: “Het Sanderushuis”, which is a house in Old-Flemish style, room for an Inn, including a village-cinema.
Sanderus is inaugurated at the first weekend of October in 1926.
Ivo marries Albertha Roegiest and both start their business as landlord and landlady of a new prestigious, building with a typical old façade, which gives the village a more authentic feel as you enter the centre of Sleidinge.
The name Sanderushuis, Sanderus house, refers to priest and historian Antoon Sanders, or Antonius Sanderus, who is best known for his historical work dating from around the 1640s called “Flandria Illustrata”.
This man served a few years as parish priest from 1617 until 1622 in Sleidinge during a very vivid and unstable time of religious wars of the post Inquisitional times in the area, before moving on to the region of Sint-Niklaas, where he would do most of his important historic writing.
Ivo receives the right to live and work at the Sanderushuis for free. Living off the profits generated by the Inn and the cinema and his regular job at the sawmill.
About 300 yards to the South along the road the couple receives a grant to build a house on a strip of land which belonged to Maurice Ghijsbrechts’ Summer residence.
In 1936 Ivo and Bertha build a house in English cottage style. The house still stands and the front of the house still has retained its original character up until this day.
Ivo starts his work on the interior.
A complete concept unfolds in making the café into something unique. Maurice Ghijsbrechts, wishing and wanting to place his lasting hallmark to the village that he calls his universe, commissions three major paintings for the interior of the café by local painter Leo Steel. Two of which are copies of well-known Bruegel paintings. A third major work covers the complete upper third of the northern wall in the pub and includes the scene of a local harvest carnival with important local historic figures.
All pictures are being painted with the Italian “All’ fresco” technique, with paint onto wet lime and chalk.
To the South Wall, East of the chimney, a copy of Bruegel’s “Peasant Wedding” slowly appears. Artist Leo Steel leaves out a few details from the original. The one the most directly noticeable is with the little boy, sitting and licking his plate. This boy distinctly misses a feather in his red cap in this version, which is there in the original.
To the South Wall, West of the chimney, Steel makes a copy of “The Farmers Dance” which depicts a village-scene in which locals are celebrating their successful harvest at the end of Summer.
The North wall hosts an original work by the artist: this painting
is called “The rendit
ion of the keys” and features Ivo Roegiest's face at the front row of the trumpeters in the parade. The rest of the painting hosts other local and historic paintings including the artist, the local parish priest at that time, commissioner Maurice Ghijsbrechts and
Antonius Sanderus.
One particular detail is worth mentioning because of a funny story. Just above the exit-door in the painting, you can see a shepherd guiding a lamb. If you would look closely at the painting in
more detail, this shepherd has a lighter coloured spot near his buttocks.
This actually was a mistake by painter Leo Steel, who had been continuing his work on his painting after having had way too much to drink: the lamb, which is clearly seen facing West, had originally been painted facing the East. So the lighter spot near the buttocks was Leo Steel’s attempt to hide as much as possible of an inebriated error.
Ivo Roegiest himself carves out the lionheads in the mantelpiece and chisels in the Flemish call “Hou ende Trou” which
refers to the Battle of Gavere, July 23rd 1453. These words are the motto of the Flemish Guilds in Ghent which united against the Duke of Burgundy to preserve their city rights in late Medieval times.
The walls of the pub are in solid concrete, but Ivo himself paints the walls and drips on lighter coloured stripes to create a magnificent illusion of wood panelling. It had all been done so meticulously that one would only know for sure about the walls by copping a feel. The chandeliers have been made by him, the woodwork in the pub was all done by him.
The bar area used to be crammed with Flemish pottery, with porcelain depicting Flemish proverbs. The furniture is being made by a firm from Bruges, which delivers old-style seats and tables. The tables are massive, the chairs are huge and hard, but you would have easily imagined Spaniard rolling their dice during the Inquistion if you would have seen them.
I still managed to collect a few old postcards from the interior, which used to be sold for a few centimes to the punters or occasional non-local passers-by.
So have a good close look and look back: this is the very house where my mother was born.
Needless to say that I am very proud and honoured.
Ever since opening in 1926, this Inn became the unofficial cultural venue for the village. It hosted all the main cultural societies: the local choirs, the brass band, the local drama company, several women’s societies and men’s clubs.
Come World War II, it hosted 30 officers of all occupying or passing forces.
At first in early May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force had a few men in there, afterwards a company of the German 6th army acted as occupational force. Most of these men would be sent off to Stalingrad afterwards. Only three men of the original 150 in this German company based in our village would survive Stalingrad. One man would return to Sleidinge by request of a deceased comrade to tell a local girl that her German had been run over by his own German Panzer after having been shot down.
Come the liberation in September 1944, het Sanderushuis becomes the regional British HQ in this sector for the battle of the river Scheldt. My mother is still a child of only 12 years as she sees eye to eye with General Montgomery, as “Monty” spends the night here on a visit to the frontline in December ‘44 during one of the harshest winters of the century.
It was a big change for Monty’s Desert Rats to come across this cold.
Our later prime minister, Wilfried Martens, born and raised in Sleidinge, would come in as a kid and played cards here.
These are my roots. This building is a part of my parents life, this building is by now part of Sleidinge’s heritage and this building is a part of me, even though I can hardly come there anymore as the Inn is now only used for private function dinners or at weddings or funerals.
When I was a kid, this is where I learned my first musical notes, where I rehearsed with the brass band with my dad as conductor, where I have sung in the choir, where I have kissed my love. This is where I lived through memorable nights of local “café chantants” everytime when the mood was right and my dad had enough to drink to go and sit at the piano and start making the atmosphere.
This was the ultimate Inn where I learned to experience the social aspect as the most rewarding thing in a person’s life.
I’m perhaps still quite young to say that “those were the good old days”. I’m living other good days now having evolved from a teenager into a faithful working, law-abiding father of two … but the genuine laughter and enjoyment as I have experienced that in the Sanderushuis in its heydays, is something I will miss for the rest of all my life. Truly and honestly.
And that’s why, I felt the need to write about this.
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