We have reached over a thousand Kingmas via LinkedIn, not just in the Netherlands, but all over the world. They live in Germany, England, the United States, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries. Over the past centuries, they have built their homes there.

All these places have their own piece of history. What did Kingmas experience there? How do they feel in this (far-away) motherland?

We think it would be nice to hear stories from each other about your ancestors or about yourselves, from the Netherlands or abroad. An exciting story, or a happy story, about a Kingma you admire, who inspired you.

We think it would be nice to hear stories from each other about your ancestors or about yourselves, from the Netherlands or abroad. An exciting story, or a happy story, about a Kingma you admire, who inspired you. Would you like to share your stories with us? Keep it to a maximum of 500 words and send it to us, preferably in Dutch or English (please send it to the foundation at info@kingmastate.nl). After some minor editing, we will place these stories on the website so family members around the world can enjoy them. And remember: your writings will be read more if they are short and concise.

We look forward to them!

In the last newsletter, we said we were hard at work with the refurbishment of the Kingma Estate into an up-to-date form and the layout of the surrounding grounds. We made some adjustments to the design. The family house doubled in size and now includes two residences. This makes the house resemble the former estate more and gives us extra living space. At the centre of the house, we included a well-lit hall that can be reached via stately stairs with landing at the front. At the rear of the property, you can enter the garden via the residences and the hall. The hall can be used for, among other things, family gatherings and meetings and also serves as a display room of the Kingma heritage, such as the 19th-century water painting of the former Kingma State, the painting by Ignatius van Kingma, his numnah and seal.

The most recent design of the estate can be viewed at www.kingmastate.nl/contact.

We have land, a construction and financing plan and the required zoning plan for the reconstruction of the Kingma Estate. The outlines of the management organisation (in the shape of an estate that meets the requirements of the Estates Act) have been drawn up and we soon hope to enter into a partnership agreement with a construction company.

For future participants from the family, the fiscal aspects of the estate are especially important with respect to issuing shares and certificates to them. This participation is required for financing the family residence and acquiring the land for the estate.

An essential part for the feasibility of our plan is the sale of eight houses situated in the two wings surrounding the courtyard. The proceeds of the sale are an important financial pillar of the project. Without the sale of these houses, we will not have sufficient funds.

Since the summer, we have been in talks with a Frisian developer and construction company with a very good reputation. These talks give us a lot of confidence in a good partnership. The company is enthusiastic about the plan and its feasibility. Apart from the construction and installation of the entire project, they will also bear the risk of the sale of the houses. We expect to sign a partnership agreement with them in the foreseeable future.

Now that the intended organisation and financing of the estate are in place, we will, over the next months, invite family members to participate financially in the estate and thus in the ownership and management of the family house and estate. As said before, a considerable part of the costs for the construction of the estate is paid from the proceeds of the sale of the houses. However, we look also for financial participation of family members.

The financial means for the construction of the family house and the acquisition of additional land for the estate will come from family member financing. There is already a small group of Kingmas investing in the running costs of the project. We would like to expand the group of participants with other Kingmas who feel connected to the ancestral land and the reconstruction of the estate, and who wish to acquire a stake as shareholder or via certificates in the Estate to be founded. If you are interested or have any questions, then please contact the Kingma Estate Reconstruction Foundation (chairman Joost Kingma, info@kingmastate.nl or info@kingmastate.nl).