Venray

Venray (old Dutch spelling: Venraij) ( pronunciation ) (Limburgish: Venroj) is a municipality and a town in Limburg, the Netherlands. As of March 2015, Venray has about 43,222 inhabitants (source: CBS).

Venray consists of 13 population centers located on a surface of 146,000 km, with 43,222 inhabitants. About 30.000 of those inhabitants live in Venray itself, the other 13,000 live in one of the 12 surrounding towns. After Venlo, Venray is the second biggest city in northern Limburg.

Topography

Dutch topographic map of Venray (town), Dec. 2013

Population centres

Blitterswijck, Castenray, Geijsteren, Heide, Leunen, Merselo, Oirlo, Oostrum, Smakt, Venray, Veulen, Vredepeel, Wanssum and Ysselsteyn

Mental Hospitals

In 1905, the Sint Servatius mental hospital for males was built by the Brothers of Charity. The first patients arrived in 1907. In 1906, the Sint Anna mental hospital for women was built by the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary. The first patients arrived in 1909. In 1969, management of the mental hospitals was transferred to two separate foundations. Both mental hospitals have had a big impact on Venray from cultural, religious and employment perspectives that lasts up to today. Nowadays, both mental hospitals are managed by GGZ Noord- en Midden-Limburg.

Raceway Venray

Raceway Venray, formerly known as Circuit de Peel, is a motorsport racing circuit in Venray, Netherlands. The track consists of a banked half mile oval with a flat quarter mile oval inside and features a karting track using portions of both along with dedicated sections. The track host its own local championships, national championships in cooperation with the Midland Circuit in Lelystad and Circuit de Polderputten in Ter Apel.

The track is owned by Harry Maessen, a local business owner who is also involved in several other motorsports projects, including the BRL V6 and BRL Light series, Funpark Meppen and Acceleration 2014.

History

M.C.V. Janslust

In 1961 the local people started hosting motocross races in the village of Heide, Venray. The goal was to raise money for a church, the current church of Immaculate Conception. More then a hundred motocross racers attended the first event June 25, 1961. Motocross Club Janslust was founded to host the races under the sanctioning of the Roman Catholic Dutch Touring Club (the Roman Catholic variant of the Royal Dutch Touring Club). The motocross became a yearly event. More than twenty years the annual motocross was run. However in 1983 the organisation was dissolved. The motorcross of 1982 was canceled due to bad weather. The loss of 6.500 guilders was a heavy burden for the organisation. The board of the organisation decided to end the motorcross activities.

Peel en Maas

Peel en Maas has been a new municipality in the southeastern Netherlands since 1 January 2010. It is situated in the province of Limburg. The municipality is formed by the former municipalities of Helden, Kessel, Maasbree, and Meijel.

Topography

Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Peel en Maas, June 2015

References

External links