On 24 October 2024, Stephanie Westerlund, the daughter of port entrepreneur Jean-Jacques Westerlund, who died in 2021, is organising the ‘Jean-Jacques Westerlund’ benefit gala for the third time. With this gala, she wants to raise money to support the countless volunteers and inspirers behind the maritime and water heritage.
In Dock 9 at the Antwerp Dry Dock Site, a large number of volunteers still work on maritime and water heritage with great dedication, love and passion every week. Restoration not only takes a lot of commitment, time and knowledge, but also a lot of money. Following in the footsteps of heritage patron Jean-Jacques Westerlund, daughter Stephanie still organises an annual benefit gala. Proceeds from the gala go to heritage association Maritime Patrimony, which former Antwerp port alderman Marc Van Peel has chaired since 2022.
“Thanks to the efforts of a lot of volunteers, we managed to save two important ships in Antwerp, the ‘Westhinder‘ and the minesweeper ‘M477 Oudenaarde’, from scrapping. Meanwhile, both ships are being thoroughly restored and have been moored at the Droogdokkensite for several months,” says Van Peel.
“To restore these ships, however, a lot of money is needed,” he continues. “On 19 June 2018, Jean-Jacques Westerlund established the Maritime Patrimony Foundation. The aim of that foundation is to raise funds to restore the aforementioned ships. Think of it as a subsidiary of the non-profit organisation Friends of the National Maritime Museum (VNSM),” he explains.
Full-fledged maritime museum
Meanwhile, a fruitful cooperation has also developed with the Rhine and Inland Navigation Museum. “We have arranged for the Rhine and Inland Navigation Museum’s ships to be located in Dock 9 of the Dry Dock Site, together with the ‘Westhinder’ and the raft crane of the MAS and near the ‘Oudenaarde’. So everything we can present of maritime heritage is now together. I hope one day we can build a full-fledged maritime museum there,” he says.
Another initiative of Westerlund and the Friends of the Maritime Museum is at the Flemish level, being Water Heritage Flanders. “There are obviously not only Antwerp heritage associations. Watererfgoed Vlaanderen brings together a lot of Flemish heritage associations. There are still many associations on the inland waterways, in Baasrode and in Ostend, for example,” he says.
Together with Jean-Jacques’ daughter, Stephanie Westerlund, Van Peel wants to continue the work and passion for water heritage. “We are already doing that for the third year in a row around the date of Jean-Jacques’ death by organising this benefit,” he says. “Maritime Patrimony does receive some grants here and there, from the Port Authority and the Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association, among others, but the bulk of our income still comes our way thanks to the ‘Benefit Gala Jean-Jacques Westerlund’. The 2024 edition will take place at the Botanic Sanctuary in Antwerp on Thursday 24 October.”
Past, present and future
With the proceeds, the volunteers will continue working on the restoration of some maritime monuments. “In this way, we still bring together a community of associations and heritage enthusiasts that hangs together very well, and together we ensure that attention to heritage continues to live on at the Droogdokkensite,” he says.
“With the arrival of the Harbour Experience Centre, we hope that we can eventually realise a maritime museum on the same site. That way you could build a wonderful site that brings together both the past, present and future of the port and ‘the maritime’ in Antwerp. Secretly, I still dream of a pedestrian bridge connecting the Droogdokkensite to the Havenhuis. Apart from that, I hope the new Antwerp city council will continue to fully support these initiatives,” he concludes.
