It is a privilege to be Honorary President of Gouda’s Liedertafel. This male voice choir from Gouda is a fun, close-knit fellowship with a wonderful product. I can sit back and really enjoy their singing. I am an enthusiastic singer myself, but due to the workload that comes with my job as Mayor of Gouda, I do not have the time to practice this hobby on a regular basis.
My musical taste is quite broad. I love ‘Cuby and the Blizzards’, reggae from Ghana but I am also a Bach fan. I sing in the shower and during long journeys in the car. I do try to attend the concerts of Gouda’s Liedertafel as often as I can. I carry a warm heart for Gouda’s Liedertafel. As the Honorary President, I take care of the choir’s interests, which is why I contacted Finsterwalde in Germany in 2005. I thought it would be wonderful if the choir could participate in the Sängerfest (Singers festival) in August 2006. It happened and I was there with them!
I wish the members of the choir a lot of fun singing now and in the future, and I hope to be able to stay involved as their Honorary President and to honour my title by contributing to the prominence of Gouda’s Liedertafel
See you at a concert
Wim Cornelis
Who is our Honorary President?
Wim Cornelis was born and raised in Groningen, but the transition from the land in the north to the Randstad (Area between Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and Rotterdam) suits him well. He finds Gouda to be a fascinating, beautiful city with a lot of governmental challenges. He has been the mayor of Gouda since 2001 and our Honorary President since 24th October 2002.
Mr Cornelis is a mayor who is active in the community. He listens carefully and wants to know what goes on in his town. Before he went into politics in 1978, he worked in education as a history teacher and later he was part of the management team of a secondary school.
He became a councillor for the PVDA (Dutch Labour Party), then the local party leader, next he became a Municipal councillor and finally acting mayor of the town of Ten Boer. Subsequently he was mayor of the town of Reiderland and later for the town of Opsterland.
