Flower bulbs on the border of "80 years of peace and freedom" and "75 years of Europe"

Volunteers from Suderwick and Dinxperlo once again set an example for cross-border cooperation and organised a flower bulb planting campaign. Children and adults planted flower bulbs that will make the border bloom next spring.

Friendship is blossoming on the German-Dutch border between Suderwick and Dinxperlo: for the third time, a section of the national border on Keupenstraat has been planted with thousands of spring flower bulbs. Around 12,000 bulbs - including crocuses, daffodils, wild tulips, lapwing flowers, ornamental leeks and prairie lilies - will not only provide colourful splashes of colour next spring, but also provide food for bees and other insects.

The planting campaign is a joint project of the Suderwick local history association and the Stichting Historisch Dinxperlo, supported by the city of Bocholt, the municipality of Aalten and the Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The aim of the campaign is to bring children from Germany and the Netherlands together to do something for nature and the environment - in the spirit of borderless co-operation in Europe.

"The border should not divide, but connect", according to the organisers. The joint planting also marked the end of a series of events to commemorate "80 years of peace and freedom" and "75 years of Europe".

Numerous children - equipped with small sandpit shovels - set to work with great enthusiasm. Parents and grandparents lent a helping hand to get the bulbs into the ground. When the first flowers light up next spring, the border between Suderwick and Dinxperlo will once again show that it has long been more connecting than dividing.