The heart of the organization

BillyBird Hemelrijk is a regional recreation park that seeks to connect with the region (Hemelrijk, for example, is the name of the original area, Helihaven is an addition to the air base in Volkel). The park consists of a combination of nature and recreation: a beach surrounded by a range of thematic indoor and outdoor attractions, including, for example, a Sand Martin Wall and an Observation Hut. Our right to exist is that we offer everyone, together or alone, young or old, rich or poor, fun 365 days a year and in any type of weather. There is room for everyone and everyone will always be welcomed with open arms and a warm smile. Here everything is allowed, and nothing is required. We owe our right to exist to the guest and we will do our utmost to realize this right to exist. Every second of the day, 365 days a year.

If you ask us what BillyBird wants to achieve in the distant future, the answer is: a healthy chain of regional recreational parks with a combination of nature and recreation , where everyone can have fun, every day, with family and friends. How do we want to achieve this? We believe that there are no chains or companies in daytime recreation that have an identical formula. We therefore have an advantage that we will utilize by offering quality and taking into account the interests of everyone involved: the guest, the employee and the environment.

You can always play together in our playground equipment.

Basic elements of BillyBird

Together, cozy, friendly, hospitable, cheerful, casual, pure, authentic, natural, accessible, for everyone and affordable. In short: always, every day and in any weather: Happy Together!

Mission

To develop regional recreational parks with a combination of nature and recreation, where everyone can have fun every day, together with family or friends. can have.

Vision

There is and will remain a need for simple and timeless entertainment, always and everywhere.

Objective

A chain of healthy parks , while retaining its own identity. Achieving quality in development and operation, which is tailored to the interests of all involved, with respect for the guest, the employee and the environment.

Who is BillyBird?

BillyBird is a sociable and cheerful bird that likes to fly and explore, because he is curious about what there is to experience in the world. He loves nature and space, but also enjoys having fun together. Billy is living proof that nature and recreation go well together.

He also enjoys being in the company of others. Sliding down the slide together, pedal boating together, but also just lazing around on the beach together. He is there for everyone, young, old, rich and poor. He doesn't care who you are, what you do or what your origins are. He always hopes that you return home feeling happy and satisfied. He is a welcome host and his guests enjoy spending time with him.

Owners Ton & Gerrie Derks

Who is Gerrie Derks?

Gerrie grew up in Boekel as the eldest daughter of a chicken farmer. Her father and mother, both from farming backgrounds, had their own business. When Gerrie was 10 years old, they started a chicken business. There was a lot of work to be done and Gerrie helped in the company from an early age. When she was 5 years old, she already knew what she wanted to be when she grew up: a kindergarten teacher. She wanted to contribute to the development of people into self-confident individuals. As a teenager, she enjoyed leading scouts and at the age of 19 she was already teaching a class of toddlers in Aarle-Rixtel.

At the age of 21, Gerrie married Ton Derks. Gerrie initially had her doubts about starting her own company with Ton. A farm okay, but a recreational company? Ultimately, they decided together to take the gamble. This is under the guise of 'if it doesn't work out, we always have each other', and 'what have we got to lose, except money?'.

Gerrie has always remained a kindergarten teacher in her heart.

BillyBird is Happy Together with guests and employees.

Who is Ton Derks?

Ton grew up in Volkel, as the eldest son of a pig farmer. When his father married, he took over a farm at home with a few pigs, cows and some chickens. Ton's mother, who grew up in Bedaf, a hamlet in Uden, has two brothers who became Kruisheer. “You don't live for yourself” and “you can also do something for free” are statements that were said from a Catholic spirit and to which they attached great value. As a child, Ton suffered a lot from asthma. As a toddler, he therefore had to spend a lot of time in the hospital. To pass the time, he created his own fantasy worlds.

As an adolescent, Ton often wandered through fields and forests or worked in his own garden. Ton wanted to become a landscape architect, but this was not possible with the wrong subject package. At the age of 16 he became a member of the Dutch Youth Association for Space and Astronomy. He later founded a NJRS department in Uden. In his garden he built his own observatory with a group of friends: 't Hemelrijk.

Education

At the age of 18, Ton attended the Administrative Academy. This meant studying two days a week and working at the town hall 3 days a week. After three years he had to go into military service, where he became 'the coffee butt' in Schaarsbergen. Officially this was a non-existent position and he supposedly worked in the 'administration'. Because he made everyone pay, starting with the superior, did not eat from the stock himself and paid all the money honestly, the coffee room quickly made a considerable profit and Ton was given more freedom.

Once out of service and back at the town hall, he started thinking. He actually liked the service better than the town hall. He couldn't get rid of it anymore. In 1983 Ton was 22 years old and now married. After a few months of marriage, Ton came up with the idea of starting something for themselves together with Gerrie. Although he was still studying to become a Senior Administrative Officer and had obtained his specialization in Spatial Planning, but what can you do with that as a self-employed person? Gerrie was not happy with Ton's plans. Ton thought of a chain of pancake houses, all in the woods along cycle paths; nice red squirrels on the windows of the log cabins. He really liked it.

Not much later the summer holidays arrived and Ton and Gerrie left for a sun-drenched England. There they cycled from campsite to campsite for three weeks. During a cycling trip, halfway through that holiday, Ton abruptly stopped cycling. “I want a campsite,” he said to Gerrie without hesitation.