On Thursday, April 10, 2025, Mandeville hosted its annual Francois Vrancken Lecture. This year the lecture was delivered, initially, by Onno Eichelsheim (Commander of the Armed Forces). At the last minute, General Eichelsheim had to cancel due to an urgent visit to Brussels, along with Prime Minister Schoof. Therefore, Lieutenant General Ludy Schmidt (deputy Commander of the Armed Forces’) spoke this year.
The lecture was impressive. Especially because the lecture had the character of a discussion evening. Lieutenant General Schmidt engaged the audience in conversation about the volatile world in which we live. Good news: no mandatory military service. Plus the evening ended with a beautiful poem by our Gouda city poet Chris Bellekom.
