Special day for 75-year-olds
What an exciting start to the year! Our 75th anniversary, the new Corporate Identity, the metamorphosis of Satino - we want everybody to join in with the celebrations. On 3 July we will hold an Open Day when everybody can visit us. However, we felt that our contemporaries in Swalmen deserved preferential attention. They were given a treat at the beginning of April.

“We wanted to do something special for all the people living in Swalmen who were born in 1935”, says training coordinator Karel van Mullekom while Jan de Haas, the company's engineering manager, nods in agreement. “So we published an invitation in two local weekly papers. And got a great response: nearly 50 people registered.”

Unforgettable day
“We wanted to give our visitors an unforgettable day,” says Jan. “The programme was a surprise. Our guests had simply been asked to report to our main office.” The first activity was a visit to our tissue mill followed by a boat trip on the river Maas and a tour of Thorn, the "White Town" of the Netherlands, by horse-drawn tram. “The reactions were surprisingly warm and cordial”, Jan adds. “Even though most of our guests did not know each other, the atmosphere was very convivial right from the start. Stories were told about the old days and everybody sang merrily in the horse-drawn tram. The town of Thorn certainly noticed our presence!”

When you go on an excursion with so many 75-year-olds, you obviously have to take extra care. Consequently, we were accompanied by four of our colleagues' wives, who work as home-care nurses. Karel and Jan were delighted with their help: “They volunteered spontaneously and even took a day off work just to come and help us. Fortunately, their services were not needed.”

Enthusiastic reactions
Mr and Mrs Van der Goor: “It was a wonderful day: we even sent a formal thank-you letter. Everybody was so enthusiastic! Henk van Houtum came and sat at our table on the boat and we had an entertaining conversation. About the future of the company and all the developments. A fantastic day, really superb!”

Mrs Schaëfer: “Fabulous! I can sincerely say that everything was prepared down to the last detail. The instructions beforehand were very clear, everything was perfectly organised. We even received a CD with all the photos, really thoughtful!”

Mr and Mrs Clumpkens: “It was a day we'll never forget. In a word, fantastic! And we carried on talking about it for weeks afterwards. Everything was perfectly organised. We also found the visit to the mill very interesting. All those machines at work is an unbelievable sight!”