September 29, 2001 - the first fan club meeting of the Safinafanclub.

Long before the summer we had picked and booked a location. It had to meet some requirements: preferably located the heart of the country, easy accessible, also by public transport and not too expensive. The Koetshuis in Nijkerk proved to be the most appropriate for our goal.

Weeks, no, months in advance we had been busy preparing: making contact with he grower of the Safina-daffodil and he agreed to provide us with flower bulbs for all participants at the fan club meeting. And besides all kinds of prints had to be made for the paper bags and prizes for the lottery had to be collected.

Even Alessandro and the record company were informed at an early stage: Just in case the fan club meeting could be fitted in Alessandro's schedule!

On the day itself we were present early in order to organize the accommodation. When the door opened at 1.00 PM some fans had already gathered at the parking lot, so the atmosphere was good from the beginning. Many people had brought their Alessandro-scrapbooks, and before long everybody was chatting and leafing trough the books.

Willeke and I were enjoying ourselves at the entrance: It was nice to meet the faces that belonged to the already familiar names and to see that everybody was having a good time.

After a welcome by Willeke and some introductory video footage it was time for Marjolijn's slide show. Everybody was fascinated by the images and for three quarters of an hour there was dead silence. The proprietor of the Koetshuis came in - slightly worried - to see why it was so silent. After all, 75 women in one hall should make a lot of noise! Even the waitresses did not dare to come in with their trays of coffee, afraid to disturb the concentration with the clattering of the cups and saucers.

The video footage of Alessandro on the canal boat and the EPK were being watched eagerly. We are very grateful to Universal for lending us the tapes!

Even in Alessandro's absence we were able to enjoy the vocal talents of Martin Hogenkamp, who sang his version of 'Luna'.

Meanwhile the birthday cards for Alessandro kept coming in and everybody wrote their name on the apron, Alessandro's birthday present.

There were some surprising winners at the lottery: two bags turned out to have the same number. Fortunately there was an extra prize for Jolanda, who had not been so lucky with the traffic.

After the group photograph was taken most fans set off on the journey home. When approximately 30 people were left, Willeke's telephone rang - Alessandro! Everybody crowded around Willeke to hear Alessandro say that he almost would have been there too. Too bad his appointments in Holland were cancelled recently.

At 5.15 PM we started cleaning up. Posters were taken off the walls, the last glasses cleared away, the vacuum cleaner did its work and we could look back on a successful fan club meeting.

The next fan club meeting is being prepared already: it is planned for June 8, 2002, again at the Koetshuis in Nijkerk.