Ulft

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Ulft is a town in Oude IJsselstreek in the Achterhoek province in Gelderland.

The town has over 10.700 inhabitants and is the biggest town in Oude IJsselstreek. Until January 1st 2005 Ulft was part of the municipality Gendringen. At the municipal re-order in de Achterhoek de municipalities Gendringen and Wish joined together to the Oude IJsselstreek.

Ulft consists out of two hamlets: Oer and De Pol. Oer is the northern part of Ulft, and is called Oer because of the iron in the earth, which is called IJzeroer in Dutch. In Ulft the DRU was stationed, an iron foundry. DRU has moved some years ago to Duiven, and now has a location at the Rijksweg A12. In the old DRU-building an Ironmuseum is stationed, and a communities house, "De Smeltkroes" will move there too.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Seat partitioning municipality council
4 Major
5 Village Fair
6 Sports
7 External links

[edit] Geography

Ulft lies in the southern part of the Achterhoek, at a distance of 15 km from Doetinchem. In the northern part of Ulft the Industry Grounds "De Rieze" is located. Which has been expanded lately, some farms have been demolished to make this happen. Industry Grounds "De Pol" is finished anno 2007. There will be built new residents. Between Ulft and the bordering Gendringen the Industry Grounds " De IJsselweide is located. In 2001 de mainstreet of Ulft has been rebuilt thoroughly. The point of this was to avoid the heavy trucks in the centre of Ulft and lead them around downtown Ulft. This has been done by building traffic thresholds. Also some trees have been planted next to the road. Bus company "Syntus" said they wouldn't drive their busses through the centre anymore because of the thresholds, which could damage their busses.

[edit] History

The history of Ulft began in 1236 with a citadel: Slot Ulft doesn’t exist anymore. The water citadel was located at the “Oude IJssel” and the “AA-strang”. The citadel had a watermill, which was used as cornmill. At the end of the 16th century Ulft began to develop as a town. Since then Ulft grew big time.

Important for the development of Ulft was the presence of the “Oude IJssel” and iron ore (IJzeroer), which was easy to dig. The ore was not good for the growth of plants at the farms, so it was a problem for the farmers. In 1753 someone came with the plan to begin an iron forgery in the old water tower. Because of that money was made out of the ore and the farmers were freed of their problem.

In 1885 “Bellaard, Becking and Bongers” started a second iron forgery. This forgery got the was called “The new hut” by the locals. The increasing production of the iron forgeries also attracted more entrepreneurs, mainly from the metal industry.

[edit] Seat partitioning municipality council

Seat partitioning municipality Oude IJsselstreek (Ulft)

CDA 9 seats
PvdA 8 seats
Lokaal Belang (Local Importance) GVS 8 seats
VVD 2 seats

[edit] Major

Hans Alberse is major of the municipality Oude IJsselstreek since May 15th 2006. Before he was major of the municipality Lingewaal. Hans Alberse is sinds 15 mei 2006 burgemeester van de gemeente Oude IJsselstreek. Daarvoor was hij burgemeester van de gemeente Lingewaal.

[edit] Village Fair

On the second Sunday of Juli the Village fair of Ulft is celebrated. The Village fair is organized by 3 associations. “De Eendracht”, “St. Hubertus” and “St. Joris”. De Eendracht organises the Village fair in Oer, St. Hubertus in Ulft (centre) and St. Joris in the Pol.

[edit] Sports

In Ulft there are 2 footballclubs. These are “Ulftse Boys”, which is situated in the old part of Ulft (called “Oer” bij the locals), and “SDOUC” (which stands for Teamwork leads to victory), which is located in the southern part of Ulft. “Ulftse Boys” has degraded to the 4th class, their big rival has degraded to the second class in 2007.

Ulft also has a swimming pool called “The Blenk” with a swimming association “De Gendten”. Handball, Volleyball, Korfball, Tennis, Badminton and athletics can be found at sporting park “IJsselweide”. This park is being shared by Ulft and Gendringen. Also the footballclubs SDOUC and V.V. Gendringen kan be found there. Atletico ’73 is well-known of the athletes Bram Som and Arnoud Okken.